SCRIBOS and HP Indigo Launch Anti-Copy Direct-Print Codes

Through a partnership with HP Indigo, the copy-protected, direct-print ValiGate® QR code from SCRIBOS (a KURZ company), can now be used as a plug-in for HP digital presses worldwide.

(© SCRIBOS).

ValiGate uses the entire QR code to embed a patented copy-protection pattern, which SCRIBOS developed from its knowledge of holographic security features.

The technology is not limited to QR codes but can be combined with other 2D and 1D codes, or even used in freeform, integrated into the packaging design. The codes – which are serialised – can be printed directly onto product packaging, and no app is required to authenticate them.

‘Imagine a world where every QR code is copy-protected and your customers can rely 100% on the stored information they receive when they scan it. This would prevent track and trace data or blockchains from being tricked by copied codes, and consumers from receiving falsified information about illegal products. That’s what we’re working towards together with HP – full steam ahead!’, explained Dr Steffen Scheibenstock, Business Development Manager of SCRIBOS.

ValiGate now forms part of the HP Indigo Secure set of solutions, which includes hardware, software, media and inks for security printing and brand protection. The solutions are based on HP Indigo’s proprietary liquid electrophotography (LEP) technology, which is reinforced by partner solutions such as ValiGate.

Other partners include VerifyMe, with its VerifyInk™ security ink taggants for HP Indigo’s 6000 series of digital presses, and Jura, with its security design software, variable security features for digital printing, and smartphone authentication expertise.

Other HP news

In other HP news – but this time on the side of HP protecting its own products from counterfeiting – HP is continuing to use firmware updates to discourage or, as some consumers report, outright block the use of non-HP ink cartridges in HP printers.

The company’s ‘dynamic security’ policy, first introduced in 2016, consists of a feature integrated into some HP printers to authenticate ink cartridges and prevent the use of cartridges that aren’t HP-approved.

Printers equipped with dynamic security are intended to work only with cartridges carrying new or reused HP chips or electronic circuitry, and to block cartridges with non-HP chips. Reused, remanufactured, and refilled cartridges that reuse HP chips or electronic circuitry are unaffected by the feature.

As a result of its most recent firmware update, HP has reportedly expanded dynamic security to devices that were once compatible with non-HP cartridges – which many users are not happy about.

‘HP have updated their printers to outright ban non-HP ink! They no longer show the ‘can’t guarantee quality’ message, but instead cancel your print completely until you insert an HP ink cartridge,’ posted one Reddit user.

HP has responded to complaints by reminding users that a dynamic security-labelled HP printer can start blocking non-HP ink at any moment and without notice. Furthermore, it has always argued that dynamic security is about bringing ‘the best consumer experience’ and protecting customers ‘from counterfeit and third-party ink cartridges that do not contain an original HP security chip and that infringe on our IP’.

However, for most users, ‘best consumer experience’ is a functioning ink cartridge at the most affordable price for frequent use. And cynics have argued that this latest move by HP to block non-HP cartridges seems like a desperate attempt to lock users into its products, in the face of declining printer sales.