Tracer Detection Tech puts anti-counterfeit IP on the block

US anti-counterfeit company Tracer Detection Technology (TDT) has put intellectual property for a counterfeit detection platform based on optical signatures up for sale.

Texas-based TDT filed a voluntary chapter 11 petition last November under the US Bankruptcy Code, meaning that it remains in operation while management attempts to return the business to profitability or liquidate its assets.

The IP portfolio up for sale by ICAP Patent Brokerage includes an extensive range of US patents and patent applications covering methods to authenticate objects based on the use of random patterns and optical characteristics that are unique to each item.

"The portfolio broadly covers the self-authenticating or online authenticating of objects in order to prevent the unauthorized manufacture and selling of a good," which could include labels or hang-tags placed on items, coatings, moulded substrates, currency bills, and stock and bond certificates, said ICAP.

It covers a number of potential embodiments including dichroic fibers, proprietary dyes, microbubbles and flecs, sealing tape, and watermarking, according to ICAP, which noted these can be compared against a pre-encoded 'message', for example a self-authenticating code, such as a bar code, or against an online database.

The technology also allows consumers to authenticate items via a smartphone, optical scanner, computer or other reader device.