Holograms: Another Good Way to Battle Counterfeit Products

Holograms are commonly used for security purposes, like those found in credit cards. Mastercard International, Inc. became the first company to use hologram technology in their bank card. Companies have been using holograms on their products to identify it from counterfeit products, however, as technology grows, it's becoming easier and easier for counterfeiters to get access to technology that makes the same holograms and put it on their pirated products. This is a big problem for manufacturers and consumers alike.

Most holograms are just record images on the surface of the material which is why it is easier to counterfeit, but there are special types of holograms, like the Lippmann hologram, that is hard to counterfeit since they have vertical and horizontal 3D views and require photo sensitive materials and specialized manufacturing technology. Lippmann holograms can store images by recording patterns in photo-sensitive layers produced by lasers and are capable of producing unique image expressions that cannot be achieved with ordinary holograms.

Just last July, Sony PCL, Inc. and a Japan company, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) have been working together to develop a new type of Lippmann hologram that is capable of showing animation or live-action images. The two companies have announced the start of production of these special type of Lippmann hologram that can be used for security purposes. Sony and DNP's hologram can store 100 image frames on a single hologram, making the hologram difficult to counterfeit and would further help in recognizing genuine and counterfeit goods. This new type of hologram can store dynamic picture images through the use of stereogram technology.

DNP stated in their press release that criminal groups engaged in counterfeiting products employ advance technology which is making it difficult for customers to tell the genuine article apart from the counterfeit, and that calls for sophisticated technology to combat against pirated goods prompted the company to make this highly advanced Lippmann Hologram.

Sony and DNP's hologram is a Lippmann hologram but is even harder to counterfeit since the holograms has the capacity to record about 100 image frames in one hologram through line order recording technology. Line order recording technology has made it possible to record lively animated images. Since moving images are harder to counterfeit, Sony and DNP's Lippmann hologram would provide more security for companies wanting to distinguish their products from counterfeits. The two companies claim that they can supply the new holograms in various shapes and formats like seals, heat-transfer foils and tamper-evident seals. Both companies collaborated and put together their hologram manufacturing knowledge to produce this new hologram which the companies have field tested for 18 months. Only after confirming the effectiveness of the hologram as an anti-counterfeiting measure did both companies decided to mass produce their product.