Charms™ - JDSU’s unique covert security solution - provides strong authentication for documents, products and packaging for pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods.

JDSU, the market leader in overt printed security features, has applied its optical technology expertise to develop a new weapon in the fight against counterfeiters with the introduction of its latest sophisticated security solution for document authentication and brand protection.

Charms™ are printable microstructured taggants -- miniscule particles two to three times the size of a red blood cell -- that can be customized with a customer's logo or graphics and then added to printing ink for documents, labels or packaging. The first covert product of its kind that can be used in standard printing ink, it is also the first solution that can offer very high-resolution graphics on micro-flakes in this particle size range. The easily verifiable presence of marked micro-flakes on genuine non-counterfeit material provides an additional and unique factor for authentication.

Plus, Charms is invisible to the naked eye and can easily be added to documents, packaging or products without affecting any of the visual aspects of the graphic design. Looking for more reasons to try out this groundbreaking covert security product? Try these…

Proven Success
Already adopted by several large brand owners in 2007, Charms has also been proven in a yearlong, extremely successful pre-release deployment on more than 100 million electronic products. JDSU security pigments are currently used on more than 90 different currencies, as well as on many pharmaceutical and other products.

Ease of Authentication
According to Kees-Jan Delst, product line manager for JDSU's Flex Products Group, "Complexity is an enemy of security, and truly effective authentication, implemented on a large scale, requires a straightforward verification procedure.” With Charms, even non-experts can distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit, quickly and reliably.

“With authentication using Charms, all that is required in the field are your eyes and a low-cost, portable microscope. Strong authentication for printed materials will never get easier than that," he added.  

Product authentication with Charms is a simple visual confirmation of graphics, size, shape, color and texture that requires only minimal training. Charms also include specific attributes that allow forensic use when required.

A Wide Range of Benefits

·         The security feature can be applied with a standard printing press.

·         Authentication in the blink of an eye: a single low-cost, portable microscope works for authentication across different documents, products and/or brands, which is crucial for investigators, customs and law enforcement.

·         Protection does not rely on restricted access to the authentication tool.

·         Configuration of specific marks at various levels, distinction by brand, product, region, manufacturer or converter.

·         Usable in combination with an overt solution, mixed in JDSU's color-shifting ink, or as a stand-alone covert solution.

·         Can be added "just in case," and verified only when and where required. Protection does not require a minimum for sampling volume, as is the case with serialization.

·         Low per-unit cost enables effective protection of extremely high volume, fast-moving consumer goods.

About Microstructured Taggants

This invention relates to a method of manufacturing precisely formed taggant materials or particles of uniform size and information content - preferably formed from polymeric, protein, or carbohydrate materials. Specific combinations of shape, size, color, reflectivity, refractive index, surface geometry, imprinting, optical effect, and electromagnetic properties can be used to uniquely tag manufactured articles.

Taggant materials or particles can be mixed into bulk products (foods, explosives, pharmaceuticals, paper, polymers), applied to the surface of articles, or incorporated into inks, paints, or coatings.

A relatively small amount of optically or electronically readable information can be carried by the taggant materials and larger amounts of information can be distributed among a multiplicity of taggant materials.

The range of applications for taggant particles according to this invention is nearly boundless. These taggants can be incorporated into inks for printing secure, counterfeit-resistant, authenticatable currency, identification cards, financial transaction cards, vital records, and other high-security, high- value documents. The taggant particles can, alternatively or additionally, be incorporated into the paper and polymer substrates these documents are printed on. Such tagged materials can be used as labels for lot tracking, tamper prevention and indication, product authentication, covert bar coding, and distributed packetized authentication information.

-- WIPO

JDSU is a leading provider of innovative optical solutions for brand authentication, medical/environmental instrumentation, semiconductor processing, display, aerospace and defense, and decorative applications.