New ProImage launches brand protection unit

New ProImage has launched a new business unit dedicated to brand protection and anti-counterfeiting technology.

The company - which is a subsidiary of Belgian imaging giant Agfa-Gevaert - said the new division will initially focus on marketing Agfa Graphics' Fortuna software suite, a digital system for high-end security printing.

Fortuna is a digital design system for security printing and includes a range of modules that enable the user to create patterns such as guilloche, variable line widths, rasters, latent images and warp grids based on the requirements of a specific market.

The suite covers three levels of security printing, including overt human-detectable patterns and covert patterns that require ultraviolet light, decoding lenses or magnifiers. It can also introduce security features that require specialist reading tools, microscopy or laboratory analyses to detect.

Developed for packaging and other security applications, the software will add security to any printed material whilst it is being printed - and at very little additional cost - claims New ProImage, which says the suite "replaces the old labour intensive, mechanical pattern generation devices".

Applications of the software include brand protection as well as marking for legal and financial documents, CDs, lottery tickets and tax stamps, says the company.

The new business unit will be headed by Max Astor.