Chip to identify fake goods

Paper-thin RFID chips are the new detectors.

Counterfeit drugs are as common as a knockoff Hermès tie or a Prada bag on the high streets. But while the tie or the bag may fall apart in a few months; a fake pill can kill you, a poor quality edible product could land you in hospital and a counterfeit skin cream could leave you red in the face.

However, the good news is that technology is now being used to prevent counterfeiting, through track-and-trace (radio frequency identification or RFID) and product authentication (such as holograms and chemical markers) technologies.

A label that will have an RFID chip embedded on it can be stuck on to pharmaceuticals, FMCG products like toothpastes, edible goods and even silk saris.

The manufacturer has to buy a sticker that would cost him less than a rupee and configure the RFID chip with product details. Next time, when the consumer buys the product, all he needs to do is swipe the sticker-based chip on an RFID scanner (probably installed in shops or malls) and verify the authenticity of the product.

Customer Infinity Services (CISL), a technology consulting and integrator company that deploys RFID, Biometrics as security solutions has developed Suraksha Mudra, a security seal for authentication of any commodity that the consumer may need to establish rightful ownership of.

"This application provides a secure online or offline authentication of the product. It has been developed keeping in mind the rights of the consumer, who is susceptible to quality issues. We are in talks with two big FMCG companies in India to monitor the counterfeiters," explains BR Badhri, CEO of CISL.

Counterfeiting, globally, is estimated to be a $900 billion worth black hole.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer began shipping its Viagra product with RFID tags to its customers in the US last year. RFID technology is now being added to all Viagra products sold in the US to enable pharmacies and wholesalers to verify the unique electronic product code on Viagra packaging.

Being a major target for counterfeiters, Pfizer claims to have invested several million dollars to date in the technology. Pharmacists and wholesalers now use specially-designed electronic scanners that communicate the code over the Internet to a secure Pfizer website.

CISL is exploring the opportunity of liaising with Google and MSN. It is also developing devices where its security solutions can be a part of the mobile phones, making it easier for verifications.

"The tag can carry information as simple as a pet owner's name and address or the cleaning instruction on a sweater to as complex as instructions on how to assemble a car. We need to simplify the ways of reading the information for the consumer," says Badhri.

The company is already in talks with consumer protection agencies to launch a platform that can identify "the genuine product in ways that are not obvious to counterfeiters, who have become adept at accurately copying products and packaging."

With the potential to use RFID chips in passports and other government identification as well as consumer products such as clothing, the company is now mulling the idea of introducing RFID chips that can be directly woven or stitched on to clothes. The next technology upgrade, according to CISL, could be RFID implants.

Some international nightclubs have already started integrating this technology for their billing and entrance system, whereby, a customer can get an RFID chip implanted and use his credit limit within the club without having to carry cash all the time.