The authentication industry is still relatively young in brand protection terms. Authentication technology has been present for many years within the security printing industry originally developing to provide security to banknotes and cheques as well as other negotiable documents such as stock certificates and government bonds.

 

Recent threats from identity fraud have led to increased demand for print related authentication methods and a large number of technologies now exist to guard against all the threats that exist to identity and negotiable documents in general.

 

The demand for product protection devices is now driven by the increases in product related crime in general. Suppliers of labels and packaging often look to the traditional security printing markets for ideas that can be easily adopted to deter product piracy.

 

The use of special inks, foils and holographic images are just a few of the technologies deployed in this market. These technologies provide both consumers and those tasked with controlling the problem with a ready means of identifying suspect goods that can cause harm to the unwary and financial losses to the rights owners.

 

There are a number of recognised suppliers of authentication devices each specialising in a range of technologies on a sector by sector basis.

 

For instance there are suppliers that specialise in a wide range of security solutions specially developed for the clothing and footwear industries. Similarly there are specialist label and packaging suppliers that have introduced products that can be used to authenticate pharmaceutical packaging and components in the automotive and power tools markets.

These companies tend to focus on security labelling and printing technologies and have the experience and variety of solutions to provide brand owners with satisfactory answers to nearly all the threats they face.

 

There are also highly specialised suppliers of generic security systems that can be used to protect bulk products such as liquids, powders and granular merchandise.

Suppliers of authentication devices work closely with Universities and Research Companies to develop solutions to all types of product related crime.

 

See Authentication Technologies and Authentication Provider lists on other pages within this site.