What Are Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions?

In today's global marketplace, the threat of counterfeit products has become a significant concern for businesses, consumers, and governments alike. The EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) Report estimates that counterfeit products worth 400bn USD are in circulation worldwide. This makes 2.5% of all import fakes. In Europe alone, the EUIPO estimates a total of 130bn USD worth of fakes, which make up 5.8% of all imports. Counterfeiting not only poses a severe economic challenge, but also compromises consumer safety and brand reputation. To combat this growing problem, various industries have turned to anti-counterfeiting solutions. These solutions encompass a range of technologies and strategies designed to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of counterfeit goods. In this article, we will dive into the world of anti-counterfeiting solutions, exploring their purpose, key features, and their importance in safeguarding businesses and consumers.

What is counterfeiting? 

Counterfeiting refers to the unauthorized reproduction or imitation of genuine products, typically intending to deceive consumers into believing they are purchasing legitimate goods. Counterfeit products span a wide range of industries, including fashion, electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, and luxury goods. They not only undermine the revenues and market share of legitimate manufacturers, but also pose significant risks to consumer health and safety. Counterfeiting infringes on the IP rights of companies and therefore is classified as a criminal act in many countries. 
 

Anti-Counterfeiting Solutions: Their purpose and key features

Anti-counterfeiting solutions encompass a diverse range of measures aimed at detecting & preventing the production, distribution, and sale of counterfeit products. These solutions are implemented by brand owners, manufacturers, and authorities to protect their intellectual property rights and maintain consumer trust. Here are some key features of effective anti-counterfeiting solutions:

1. Product Authentication: One of the primary objectives of anti-counterfeiting solutions is to enable quick and reliable identification of genuine products. Techniques such as holograms, QR codes, RFID tags, and serialized labels are used to authenticate products at various stages of the supply chain. These technologies allow consumers, retailers, and customs officials to verify the authenticity of a product instantly.
    
2. Track and Trace Systems: Implementing track and trace systems helps in monitoring the movement of products throughout the supply chain. It involves assigning a unique identifier to each unit, enabling stakeholders to track its journey from manufacturing to the point of sale. This approach not only aids in identifying potential points of counterfeiting, but also helps in locating the source of counterfeit products and taking appropriate legal action.
    
3. Secure Packaging: Anti-counterfeiting solutions often involve incorporating security features into product packaging. These features may include tamper-evident seals, special inks, holographic labels, or hidden markings. Such measures make it difficult for counterfeiters to replicate the packaging and deter them from attempting to counterfeit the product.
    
4. Online Brand Protection: With the rise of e-commerce, anti-counterfeiting efforts have extended into the digital realm. Online brand protection involves monitoring online marketplaces, social media platforms, and websites for unauthorized listings and counterfeit products. Automated tools and algorithms help in identifying and reporting infringements, enabling swift action against online counterfeiters.
    
5. Collaboration, Training, and Education: Combating counterfeiting requires collective efforts from brand owners, manufacturers, government agencies, and consumers. Collaboration between stakeholders facilitates the exchange of information, sharing of best practices, and implementation of standardized anti-counterfeiting measures. Educating consumers about the risks associated with counterfeit products and how to identify genuine goods further strengthens the fight against counterfeiting. Customs training plays a crucial role in the fight against counterfeiting, equipping customs officers with the necessary skills and knowledge to detect and prevent the illegal trade of counterfeit goods at borders and ports. 
    
6. Communication of Anti-Counterfeiting Technology to the Market: Regardless of which solution is chosen to identify counterfeit products in the market, it is important to communicate the implemented solution to consumers and the supply chain. Communication is the only thing that will lead to an effective usage. The best anti-counterfeiting solution is one that can be communicated to and checked by every consumer, as this will always reveal more counterfeits than working with internal investigators alone.

Why is an Anti-Counterfeiting solution so essential? 

The adoption of effective anti-counterfeiting solutions is important for several reasons:

1. Protecting Consumer Safety: Counterfeit products, particularly in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and electronics, can pose significant risks to consumer health and safety. Anti-counterfeiting measures help in minimizing these risks by ensuring that consumers can trust the authenticity and quality of the products they purchase.
    
2. Safeguarding Brand Reputation: Counterfeit products can tarnish the reputation of legitimate brands. By implementing robust anti-counterfeiting solutions, brand owners can protect their reputation and maintain consumer confidence in their products. This, in turn, helps in preserving brand loyalty and market share.
    
3. Economic Impact: Counterfeiting results in significant revenue losses for businesses and governments. Anti-counterfeiting solutions help in curbing the sale of counterfeit goods, thereby safeguarding the interests of legitimate manufacturers, promoting fair competition, and boosting economic growth.
    
4. Legal Protection: Anti-counterfeiting measures provide legal protection for intellectual property rights. They enable brand owners to take legal action against counterfeiters, leading to penalties, seizures, and dismantling of illicit operations.

SCRIBOS has the best anti-counterfeiting solution on the market

With our market-leading anti-counterfeiting solutions and digital platform SCRIBOS 360, you can reliably identify originals, spot counterfeit products worldwide and effectively remove them from the market.

We have three main categories of anti-counterfeiting solutions:

• Security Labels
• Printed Security  
• Security Seals 

Security Labels 

SCRIBOS security labels are based on proprietary technology and therefore are equipped with advanced security features that make it impossible for counterfeiters to replicate them. They feature a multi-level security combination of overt, covert, and forensic elements to provide multiple layers of protection to your products – each layer serialized with a unique ID code. These features have not been imitated successfully in the market for over 20 years.

Printed Security 

Our printed security features can be printed directly onto your packaging or product design – both as a concealed feature and as an eye-catching element for customer interaction at the point of sale. This makes this solution particularly sustainable, as no label is required to use this anti-counterfeiting solution. 

Security Seals 

Security seals protect products by clearly showing if the seal has been tampered with – before purchase. As soon as the tamper seal is opened or manipulated, it immediately shows a so-called void effect, which is irreversible. This first-opening effect remains visible even if an attempt is made to reseal the tamper evident seal. It indicates that the content of a packaging is original, without the need of opening the package. This is crucial when a complete container of goods requires verification or consumers want to make sure the content is authentic before making a purchase. Since you cannot sell a pack that has been opened, you must prove that the contents have not been tampered with. 

Digital Platform: SCRIBOS 360

Our unique anti-counterfeiting solutions can be connected to the innovative digital platform SCRIBOS 360. The platform detects fraudulent activities and counterfeit hot spots in real time, which gives you the ability to carry out targeted investigations and take-downs. The SCRIBOS 360 platform shows the scans of each label and lets you track and trace products throughout production and the entire supply chain. Beyond the standard tracking and tracing capabilities, SCRIBOS 360 also offers a variety of consumer interaction options, which permit brands to connect with their customers, provide incentives to help increase the scanning rate, and reap the rewards of the consumer data collected via the platform.

This makes a SCRIBOS anti-counterfeiting solution so powerful, as it not only protects your products, but also gives you the ability to act. 

Conclusion

In an increasingly interconnected and globalized world, the fight against counterfeiting has become a top priority for businesses and governments. Counterfeiting has become increasingly attractive to organized crime due to its lucrative nature, relatively low risk compared to other criminal activities, and the growing global demand for counterfeit goods. The high profit margins, coupled with the ease of manufacturing and distributing counterfeit products, make it an enticing avenue for organized crime syndicates to generate substantial illicit profits while exploiting unsuspecting consumers. Anti-counterfeiting solutions offer a range of technologies and strategies to tackle this pervasive problem effectively. By incorporating product authentication, track and trace systems, secure packaging, online brand protection, and fostering collaboration, businesses can protect their interests, ensure consumer safety, and maintain brand reputation. With a SCRIBOS anti-counterfeiting solution, you therefore are not only protecting your products, but also are safeguarding the integrity of the global marketplace.

To get the most out of your anti-counterfeiting solution, we'll consult you in finding the ideal match for your unique challenge and product, not just in terms of labelling/marking but also in terms of software and communication support. Then, we will provide assistance in the implementation and proper utilization of the data. With SCRIBOS, you have a perfect partner by your side to combat your counterfeiting issue.

Author

Sabine Carrell, International Communications Manager at SCRIBOS