Organic and Printed Electronics to Counter Product Piracy

Organic and printed electronics offers novel solutions for the brand protection of consumer goods and industrial products. Electrically coded radio tags link back to the legitimate manufacturer to detect falsification at the point of sale.

The elegant sweater strutting a renowned label, the watch of exclusive design, the expensive facial crème – they look genuine. But are they really what they appear to be? Not a cheap imitation, counterfeit, pirated copy? How about this: checking, right at the point of sale, for authenticity.

Exactly this will be doable soon if one ventures a look into the R&D labs of organic and printed electronics. Or visits an exhibition such as LOPE-C,
May 31 to June 2, 2010, in Frankfurt, Germany. Authenticity check live via tiny radio chips embedded in the product or printed onto the package. Just scan it with your cell phone, automatically connecting back to the manufacturer. If a green light is returned, the product is authentic. If red, the deal should be off.

At least $250 billion in damage, estimates the OECD, was caused in 2009 by counterfeiting material goods. And it’s not just consumer goods in global delivery chains that are targeted by pirates. Buyers of industrial components and spare parts too must fight falsifications of dubious quality and reliability.

Radio chips or RFID tags printed on thin and flexible foils are the innovative solution to protect branded products and their packaging containers. That’s no breeze: producers and forgers are engaged in a fierce, ever accelerating race to come out as a winner.

Sophisticated high-tech systems are the answer to secure a decisive lead for the legitimate delivery channels.

“Dynamic technologies are needed, to be ahead of forgeries by several steps,” said Wolfgang Mildner, managing director of PolyIC, leading developer of polymer electronics, and chairman of the OE-A. “Standard solutions will rapidly loose their effect.”

In the fight against fakes, modern printing technology is shaping up as a new force through “functional printing” of tiny micro-electronic systems on organic substrates – thin and flexible plastic foils.

Product identification by standardized optical barcodes read out via laser scanner was established long time ago and is found in every supermarket today. But the new, electrically coded radio tags offer a definite plus: their embedded, covered structure. They are detected and evaluated by compact readout devices – even by cell phones equipped with RF capability.

The era of product identification through “smart packaging” is upon us. Embedded radio tags enable packages not just to reveal pricing and use-by date. A radio-tag can trace a product or package back to its manufacturer in real time.

“Linking a product with its legitimate manufacturing logistics and delivery chain at the point of sale,” said Mildner, “is the topic of RFID technology.”

Compared to older ID methods, according to Mildner, authenticity check via printed RFID tags is safer and done automatically. “Electrical coding permits a large variety of proprietary security features. Substituting for optical barcodes will be the killer app of RFID,” he said.

Web-Browser Printed on the Package
Packaging is a hotbed of innovation. Take the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland: Their concept of “interactive packaging” involves consumers through Web browser-like functions.

“Our know-how enables us to integrate RFID readout devices in cell phones today,” said Jani-Mikael Kuusisto, business development manager at VTT. “The initial objective is increased interaction between cell phone and functional surfaces on the package.”

Embedded radio chips will offer multiple functions selectable via touch control, with links to call up useful consumer information.

“A bundle of new technologies for printed electronics, including large-are organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), are being readied in the labs for commercial application,” says Kuusisto, “among them automatic proof of opening of a package or container.” Unopened, an OLED surface in the package will light up when scanned. Once opened, a warning signal will appear. “A large problem with falsified products,” Kuusisto said, “is fraudulent re-use of opened packages.”

The latest process technologies and applications of organic and printed electronics will be on view at LOPE-C 2010 (Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention), May 31 to June 2, 2010, at the Congress Center of Messe Frankfurt, Germany. The annual conference and exhibition of the OE-A unites researchers, developers, manufacturers, investors as well as users in one place.