This 2007 PIA/GATF InterTech™ Technology Award winner is a forensically invisible solution that provides virtually infallible product authentication for multiple levels of security. Some say that as far as anti-counterfeiting systems go, it is “the real thing.”

It easily integrates into inks, toners and paper pulp. It blends into plastics, powders and pigments. It melds with liquids, textiles and more.

According to Steven Powell, General Manager and Director, Security Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company at the recent “Knock It Off!” Brands and Counterfeiting Quandary conference, “The key to preventing counterfeiting is to add a component to the product that the counterfeiters can’t find, and therefore can’t replicate…That’s what we’ve done with the KODAK TRACELESS System.”

The TRACELESS System, a two-part security system that combines proprietary markers and handheld readers, is a forensically invisible authentication technology. It creates items with unique material properties that can only be detected using handheld Kodak Traceless readers, allowing customers to easily validate the authenticity of an item in the field or in distribution channels. Here’s how it works:

·         Proprietary KODAK Markers can be integrated into a wide range of host materials with no effect on the characteristics of the end products or packaging

·         KODAK Markers are only detectable with TRACELESS Readers—they are invisible to standard optical, forensic, or chemical analysis

·         TRACELESS Readers are precision built for reliability, durability, and accuracy under extreme conditions

·         The system has built-in safeguards to make reverse engineering virtually impossible

·         Multiple levels of security are possible with the same marker and reader—basic pass/fail or additional levels of security

·         The system can be custom-tailored to individual needs

The KODAK TRACELESS system is already providing anti-counterfeit protection for customers in a wide variety of printing and packaging applications, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, premium wines and spirits, fashion apparel and accessories, secure documents and IDs. Users license the KODAK technology under multiyear agreements, and have secure control of the markers, the readers and associated software. This system prevents counterfeiters from duplicating the products or their packaging.

PIA/GATF, the world’s largest graphic arts trade organization, has recognized KODAK TRACELESS by awarding it the prestigious InterTech™ Technology Award. Established in 1978, the InterTech™ Technology Awards recognize excellence in innovative technology for the graphic communications industry.

According to Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, “Receiving a PIA/GATF InterTech™ Technology Award for the TRACELESS System validates Kodak’s approach to product security and the technology behind this robust anti-counterfeiting solution…Our customers and the InterTech judges recognize that the TRACELESS System is an easy to implement yet highly effective way to fight back against the threat of counterfeiting to brands and consumers.”