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All Advanced Materials Associations Authentication Brand Protection Case Studies Companies Consumer & Industrial Products Countries Covert & Forensic Security Document Protection Editorials Enforcement & Surveillance Events Excise Products Free Government Illicit Trade Interviews News Overt Security Regulations Reports & Studies Standards Strategies Sustainability Tax & Revenue Tax Stamps Technology & Systems Tenders Track and Trace

Chander S Jeena

20 May 2024

4 min read

Behind the Scenes of Authenticating Autographs

Following the sale at auction of a 1983 Apple business card signed by Steve Jobs, for the colossal price of $181,183 (the highest ever paid for a business card), we thought it an opportune time to explore the science behind authenticating autographs and collectibles.

Authentication

Alan Hodgson

20 May 2024

4 min read

Sustainability – The Business Case

An article in the April 2024 edition of this newsletter examined the drivers to sustainable practices in brand protection. The aim of this article is to extend this examination into the business case for sustainability, which is more than simply being seen as a good corporate citizen.

Sustainability

Chander S Jeena

20 May 2024

4 min read

Gilead Brand Protection – From Imprinted Pills to Holographic Tamper Seals

A new trend among counterfeiters is to target high-value drugs like HIV antivirals in both the developing and developed world. This problem was highlighted in 2020 and 2021, when Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Gilead warned that counterfeits of several HIV medications had been discovered circulating in the US.

Free Free

Chander S Jeena

20 May 2024

4 min read

News in Brief

A new labelling technology that prints a QR code directly onto food such as fruit has been developed by a team of researchers in South Korea, according to an announcement by the country’s Ministry of Science and ICT.

Authentication

Chander S Jeena

20 May 2024

2 min read

Novel Approach to Detect Counterfeit Coins

Researchers at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence (CENPARMI), at Concordia University, Canada, have developed a novel framework that uses image-mining techniques and machine learning algorithms to identify flaws in counterfeit coins.

Authentication

Chander S Jeena

20 May 2024

2 min read

Holography Conference 2024 – Call for Papers

Reconnaissance International has announced that the 2024 Holography Conference Online (THCO) will be held on 12-13 November. The call for papers is now open, and delegates are invited to submit a proposal to present by 13 September 2024.

Events

Nicola Sudan

14 May 2024

3 min read

Scientists Adopt New Approach Against Counterfeit Alcohol

In a new approach, scientists are developing accessible and affordable methods to enable more comprehensive detection and identification of illicit distilled spirit products.

Consumer & Industrial Products

Nicola Sudan

14 May 2024

1 min read

US Post Office Loses $150 Million in Counterfeit Stamps

A woman from California, USA, has pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States Postal Service (USPS) out of more than $150 million in a counterfeit postage scam in Los Angeles.

Brand Protection

Chander S Jeena

7 May 2024

4 min read

Gilead Brand Protection – From Imprinted Pills to Holographic Tamper Seals

Gilead Science’s comprehensive measures to ensure medicine safety, from tablet design to vials and packaging.

Consumer & Industrial Products

Nicola Sudan

7 May 2024

3 min read

StockX Values Human Verifiers and RFID Tags to Tackle Counterfeiting

In April, StockX, the online reseller (primarily of sneakers), released its first ‘Brand Protection & Customer Trust Report’, offering a view into its anticounterfeiting and fraud prevention activities in 2023.

Authentication

Chander S Jeena

30 April 2024

2 min read

UK IPO Targets Social Media to Fight Fakes

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has unveiled its latest targeted awareness campaign, designed to help tackle consumer demand for counterfeit goods.

Consumer & Industrial Products

Chander S Jeena

30 April 2024

4 min read

India’s Pharma Traceability Hits Another Roadblock

In a blow to India's pharmaceutical export ambitions, implementation of the country’s planned track and trace (T&T) system has hit another roadblock, with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) announcing a one-year extension that pushes the deadline to February 2025. This delay follows a previous setback in August 2023.

Track and Trace

Chander S Jeena

30 April 2024

6 min read

ODDS 2024 – Innovate to Thrive

From 8-10 April, Portugal's vibrant city of Lisbon played host to the 2024 Optical & Digital Security™ (ODDS) conference, providing a collaborative environment for the ID, currency, and secure document technical community to convene, exchange ideas, and unveil new security technologies.

Events

Nicola Sudan

29 April 2024

2 min read

Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum Calls For Papers

Work will soon begin on preparing the programme for the next Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™, which will take place from 7-9 April 2025, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Events

Dr Sajan Ambadiyil

29 April 2024

3 min read

Introducing the Most Comprehensive Liquor Tax Label in India

The liquor industry in India is a major source of excise revenue that needs protecting against non-compliance and illicit trade. To this end, two decades ago, the Indian state of Kerala introduced hologram- embedded security tax labels on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL).

Excise Products

Nicola Sudan

29 April 2024

4 min read

Interview with an ITSA Member – Securikett

In our third 2024 interview with a member of the International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA), we speak to Marietta Ulrich- Horn, Co-Founder and CEO of Securikett.

Free Interviews Free

Nicola Sudan

29 April 2024

4 min read

So Many Features, So Little Space

While the banknote industry often laments the limited real estate available on a banknote, tax stamps are typically 10 times smaller than notes. Furthermore, most stamps are required to carry variable data as well as multilevel security features adapted to different users with different authentication capabilities.

Technology & Systems

Nicola Sudan

29 April 2024

5 min read

Panama: A Global Leader in Tobacco Control – or the World’s Biggest Cigarette Trafficking Hub?

Depending on who you ask, Panama – which recently played host to the COP9 meeting of parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – is either a best-in- class example of a country using tobacco controls to excellent effect, or the world’s biggest hub for illicit cigarette trade.

Excise Products Illicit Trade

Nicola Sudan

29 April 2024

5 min read

The Ongoing Problem of Counterfeit Postage Stamps – Learnings for Tax Stamps

Although this article concerns ongoing problems with the counterfeiting of postage stamps, some of these stamps now carry a combination of physical and digital features common to tax stamps. Our industry may therefore be interested in recent developments around the counterfeiting of these ‘new-age’ postage stamps.

Illicit Trade

25 April 2024

3 min read

EU Recommends Actions to Combat Counterfeiting

The European Commission has adopted a recommendation to combat offline and online counterfeiting and enhance intellectual property rights enforcement.

Free Free

Latest News

Behind the Scenes of Authenticating Autographs

Sustainability – The Business Case

Gilead Brand Protection – From Imprinted Pills to Holographic Tamper Seals

News in Brief

Novel Approach to Detect Counterfeit Coins

Holography Conference 2024 – Call for Papers

Scientists Adopt New Approach Against Counterfeit Alcohol

US Post Office Loses $150 Million in Counterfeit Stamps

Gilead Brand Protection – From Imprinted Pills to Holographic Tamper Seals

StockX Values Human Verifiers and RFID Tags to Tackle Counterfeiting

UK IPO Targets Social Media to Fight Fakes

India’s Pharma Traceability Hits Another Roadblock

ODDS 2024 – Innovate to Thrive

Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum Calls For Papers

Introducing the Most Comprehensive Liquor Tax Label in India

Interview with an ITSA Member – Securikett

So Many Features, So Little Space

Panama: A Global Leader in Tobacco Control – or the World’s Biggest Cigarette Trafficking Hub?

The Ongoing Problem of Counterfeit Postage Stamps – Learnings for Tax Stamps

EU Recommends Actions to Combat Counterfeiting

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