Anti-counterfeit technology news in brief

 Featuring updates from De La Rue, MedSnap, Stealth Mark, Sproxil and Infinx/Syrma.

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Security printing specialist De La Rue is researching ways to use printed electronics as a platform security technology for banknotes and medicine labels, according to a report in E&T magazine. The printed circuits could potentially be powered by the same radio energy used in passive radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, according to De La Rue's head of ideas Philip Cooper. The advantage of the approach is that it is hard to copy and upgradeable, so it is possible to stay one step ahead of the counterfeiters, although Cooper cautioned that the project is still in its infancy.

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MedSnap officially launched its MedSnap Verify Services - a fingerprinting technology that can be used to authenticate tablets using an iPhone camera and a benchtop tray (Snap Surface) on which samples are placed upon prior to scanning - at LogiPharma in Switzerland this week. The patent-pending technology authenticates a set of pills in seconds based on its visual fingerprint of the product.

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Wellness Centre USA Inc (WCUI) has closed its stock-based acquisition of Minnesota-based Stealth Mark Holdings, a specialist in product authentication to protect against counterfeiting and diversion. The Stealth Mark technology is based on encrypted microparticles that can be read using reader software (StealthFire) that can be deployed via a smartphone and reads the unique identification mark, along with GPS location information and other data that can be carried via a QR code. WCUI said it would roll Stealth Mark into its own just-formed StealthCo subsidiary.

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Brand protection company Sproxil - best known for its text message-based Mobile Product Authentication (MPA) platform - has joined the recently-launched Fight the Fakes campaign as a partner. Fight the Fakes was set up last November to bring together multiple stakeholders in the battle against falsified medicines.

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Infinx Solutions has partnered with Syrma Technology, a subsidiary of the Tandon Group, to develop and launch a radiofrequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) platform for brand protection and to prevent counterfeiting. The alliance brings together Syrma's RFID expertise with Infinx' Veri-Sure, a mobile app, that provides "the brand owner, manufacturer, distributor, and the end consumer [with] the ability to verify the authenticity of their product," according to the two companies, which say they are targeting customers in the luxury goods, industrial products and healthcare sectors.