Anti-counterfeit technology: news in brief

Phil Taylor, 08-Oct-2014

Security technology updates from Authicode, AlpVision, TraceLink, Schreiner ProSecure and GS1.

Authicode is launching new licensing-specific modules for its cloud-based product verification system at the Brand Licensing Europe conference in London, UK, this week which allow "brand licensors … to monitor their licensing network, track their products and enhance customer relations." Using the system, the licensor is able to trace a product's entire production-to-sales process and ensure that contract agreements remain intact, claims the company.

AlpVision has launched an Android version of the app that can be used to authenticate products carrying its Cryptoglyph security technology, an invisible or covert marking that can be added to cartons, leaflets, labels, and blister packs using regular visible ink or varnish and standard printing processes. The company launched an iOS app in 2012, adding to earlier authentication approaches using document scanners and PC software. "In order to reach the real-time performance of the iPhone detector, we had to rewrite the detection algorithms from scratch," says the company.

TraceLink has launched a new version (5.2) of its Product Track module, part of its Life Sciences Cloud software suite. "With only three months until Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) compliance deadlines, TraceLink's latest release of the industry's only Transaction History Management System provides all the necessary network connectivity, operational use case and compliance data management tools," claims the company. The latest version of Product Track includes additional operational use cases and is easier to use, it adds.

Schreiner ProSecure has introduced a new reader for its LaserSecure technology, which is based on the use of covert taggants incorporated into printing ink that can be processed via screen, flexo, letterpress or offset printing. The handheld readers can be used to authenticate LaserSecure-tagged products in the field and complement Schreiner's forensic measuring techniques. " LaserSecure is a time-tested anti-counterfeiting technology, which now offers even higher security thanks to new reading equipment," said the company in a statement.

GS1 has published a guideline that shows how to implement GS1 standards to support the 2013 Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), and provide pharmaceutical industry stakeholders with "best practices for meeting immediate lot-level management deadlines and sets the foundation for serialised item-level traceability." According to GS1, its Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) can be used to meet comply the information handling and retrieval provisions of DSCSA, including the transaction statement (a statement of compliance to specific DSCSA requirements), transaction information (the transfer of goods from one party to another), and transaction history (all prior transaction information records).