Kodak to Use Invisible Ink to Fight Counterfeiting

Iconic imaging brand, Kodak, has joined up with Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, to fight fake products being sold on the internet.

Both are jointly investing in the Miami-headquartered company, Eapeiron, to develop and launch an invisible ink technology. It will allow brand owners, manufacturers and retailers to protect their products from being counterfeited or from entering the ‘grey market.’

According to printweek.com, the new ‘encryption technology’ has been developed and manufactured by Kodak at its Rochester, New York laboratories and is based on the traceless ink technology developed by Creo, which was acquired by Kodak in 2005.

Any brand can use the technology, leased through Eapeiron, to mark products using a form of invisible but traceable ink that can be scanned at any point in its journey.

Eapeiron’s chairman and chief executive, Charles Fernandez said, “The technology is highly confidential but basically it will provide smart tracking for brands. It requires being seen by very specific scanners and uses specific software components. They can successfully track their products throughout the supply chain, which will help kerb counterfeit and grey market interruptions.”

The technology is said to have been installed at 12 major Fortune 500 companies and conservatively expected to triple the number within two years with a forecast of a fourfold increase in turnover during the same period.

(Source: printweek.com)

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