Making it easy for brand owners and their investigators to spot genuine goods, while making it very hard for counterfeiters to know how it's being done is the key to an effective brand-protection technology. Nanotechnology has the answer.

Want to encrypt nanoscale codes onto pharmaceutical pills for tracking and tracing?

Want to create invisible nano bar codes to easily authenticate products and packaging?

It isn't cheap. But for companies that want to prevent both counterfeiting and product diversion by applying track-and-trace features directly onto consumer packaged goods, nanotechnology has the solutions.

When it comes to brand protection, brand owners could get the best of both worlds by combining overt and covert technologies. Overt features (such as holograms) may enhance brand image and prove authenticity but this widely available technology is prone to counterfeiting. But covert features (such as in nanotechnology) are invisible and therefore difficult to copy. And with information hidden on its products, a brand owner can track where its products are going, investigators can trace the source of a diversion and both are assured that only authorized individuals in the supply chain can access the hidden info.

Nanotechnology is "small" technology and deals with the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter (from whatis.com). Since this technology is built at nanoscale and is invisible to the naked eye, it is an ideal security solution – and one that these brand protection companies are applying to new leading-edge products:

IDGLOBAL has a number of energy-sensitive and Nano technologies from which IDGLOBAL creates custom forensic makers for each client, by creating a unique layered security solution meeting the client's requirements. Its Nano-Molecular Markers / Tags™ are specifically designed for global anti-counterfeiting applications and is part of their next generation Nano- based and leading edge security products and solutions.

ARmark’s authentication technology, which incorporates microscopic layers of covert markers to embed brand owner-specific information into products, was originally developed to safeguard products and brands from counterfeiting. The covert markers cannot be seen by the naked eye. Up to eight different levels of security, such as barcodes and serial numbers, can be applied to these covert markers, which are only microns wide. With infinite possibilities for unique coding (shapes, colors and patterns), the product is impossible to replicate.

The markers can be safe for human consumption and placed on almost any product, including foods such as spinach, produce and meat, pharmaceutical capsules and tablets. Recently, the FDA has strongly urged pharmaceutical brand owners to incorporate technologies such as ARmark’s into their drugs to protect against counterfeiting.

Authentix has developed authentication solutions for brand protection and fiscal recovery. Invisible, nano sized identification tags are added to products and then, using special equipment, field testers can immediately spot the pristine from the fakes.

NanoInk's Nanoencryption™ technology creates unit dosage protection measures required to fully ensure that patients are receiving the right medication. Nanoencryption, a multilayered approach to fighting anti-counterfeiting and illegal diversion, enables each individual tablet to be authenticated at any point in the supply chain and is vital to providing the highest level of patient safety.

Singular ID Italia, the provider of the enterprise brand security system called enxure for the premium fashion industry, has teamed up with EuroMark – an Italian leader in designer labelsand packaging for the mid to high-end fashion industry – to incorporate Singular ID’s proprietary anti-counterfeiting materials into fabric labels. Each label that is produced has a unique magnetic structure that gives it an identity that is prohibitively difficult to copy and hence counterfeit. Using Singular ID’s scanners and database system, the authenticity and pedigree of fashion products, to which the labels are attached at the time of manufacturing, can thus be verified out in the field. The enxure system can also provide valuable information within the supply chain, helping to prevent manufacturing overruns and grey-market diversion.

While nanotechnology is still a "work in progress," the advances made everyday means that for brand owners seeking product security that really works, the possibilities are endless.