Put a full stop to Counterfeit

How much one may want to, but putting a total stop to Counterfeiting perhaps is becoming increasingly impossible. There are numerous ways to curtail this perennial problem and Packaging can play a remarkable role in this problem. Today there is a possibility to build in Visible ( Overt ) and Not so visible ( Covert ) features in the packaging which can control this problem to quite an extent. The visible features are built in through inks, surface treatments, holograms etc. The not so visible features are built in through the use of specialized substrates, usage of infrared light to enhance certain elements, watermarks, microembossing, intaglio printing etc.

The issue lies in what features to use and what to avoid. One theory is that an anti- Counterfeit feature is relevant, only if it is visible to the consumer, in the sense that the absence or the presence of a certain feature should help the consumer assess the authenticity of a Brand/ product. In this case one may perhaps have to communicate in some manner to the consumer about such a feature.

The counterfeit features which the consumers cannot see, perhaps are more for the Brand owners to judge as to which product is authentic. Thus technically a counterfeiter can go on copying and selling as there is no way the consumers are likely to know the original or the copied.

There are features with various levels of difficulty in copying, but may also have cost associations, a feature extremely difficult to copy may also be extremely costly to implement.

Packaging has been on the forefront in this area and a significant amount of development has been done and is being done currently. The key value addition that packaging developers could do is to build in these features in the development process itself.

The fact remains, that the counterfeiters do catch up slowly and gradually, thus for the packaging developers this is a moving target and a continuous challenge.