Fujifilm launches full-colour, high-res anti-counterfeiting label

The rise of fake pharmaceuticals has driven innovation in the anti-counterfeiting technology sector but Fujifilm believes they have become so complex users are unable to identify genuine labels.

In response Fujifilm has launched ForgeGuard. This uses Fujifilm’s technologies for proprietary functional material, precision processing and image design to create a label that regulates light wavelengths on the nano-optic level.

Use of these technologies means the full colour text and images on the label can only be seen with a special viewer. Making the design invisible to the human eye effectively masks the anti-counterfeiting technology, making it more difficult to forge, according to Fujifilm.

Furthermore, when the image is shown it is in high-resolution and full-colour. Fujifilm claims ForgeGuard is the first anti-counterfeiting technology that has possessed these attributes.

The product was launched this week and will be showcased at Security Show 2010 which takes place next week in Tokyo, Japan. A Fujifilm spokesperson told in-PharmaTechnologist that several pharma companies have shown an interest in the technology.

Pharma companies can either apply a sticker label to the secondary packaging or use roll film with the ForgeGuard technology on the full surface. Fujifilm can produce orders as small as 100,000 pieces by using a digital drawing system instead of a printing plate.

Complexity of technology​

Fujifilm believes ForgeGuard’s ability to display a clear full-colour image makes it easy to distinguish genuine products from fakes. This is a useful attribute for an anti-counterfeiting technology and one that Fujifilm feels many of its rivals lack.

The Japan-based company claims that new anti-counterfeiting technologies, such as labels that change colour based on the angle of viewing, are too complicated.

Fujifilm acknowledges the improbability of a counterfeiter reproducing these labels but believes users can no longer tell the difference between real and fake labels at a glance.