Nanoparticle Security Coatings And Inks Benefit Brand Owners

By George M. Williams, Voxtel Inc.

While the illicit trade in fake products is still concentrated mainly in the traditional targets of high-value documents, such as luxury goods, cosmetics, watches, and designer clothes, recently lower-value and higher-volume items, such as commodity items, including glass and minerals, as well as personal care products are the targets of counterfeiters. With more and more products and sectors being penetrated, companies are increasingly losing market share to counterfeiters.

Product counterfeiting adversely affects facets of a business beyond the loss of sales. Not only do companies lose revenues to counterfeiters, they also must process returned goods, driving up repair and warranty costs, disrupting the supply chain, and diminishing the brand. For certain types of infringing goods, consumer health and safety is also put at risk. Counterfeit drugs are increasingly finding their way into global distribution chains, forcing pharmaceutical companies to adopt more sophisticated strategies to combat counterfeit drugs. With respect to governments, counterfeiting and piracy have effects on tax revenues, government expenditures, and, when corruption takes place, the effectiveness of public institutions.