Licensingpages and world renowned hologram and security printing specialists De La Rue have launched an unique security solution to help brand owners combat the risk of counterfeiting and licensing royalty fraud. The solution works by allowing licensors, enforcement officers, consumers and retailers to clearly identify and verify legitimate officially licensed goods from counterfeit or unauthorised goods.

The ‘Official Licensed Product’ hologram and security system has just been adopted by Unilever for one of their key licensed brands in the Nordic territories. The system was also used by FIFA for the World Cup Germany 2006 official licensed merchandise. Implemented by multi-national brands and promoted to consumers, retailers and enforcement officials, the ‘Official Licensed Product’ hologram is set to become a universally recognisable ‘legitimate product’ sign.

The system is based on a high security hologram which is applied to a brand owner’s licensed products, either on swing tags or integrated into packaging. Each hologram has an individual serial number. De La Rue logs the volume and serial numbers sent to each licensee in its security system, and identifies the type of product that batch should appear on. This information is then accessible over a secure website for the brand owner and enforcement officials worldwide to verify at any time.

The system offers a series of unique benefits to brand owners, manufacturers, officials, retailers and end consumers. The hologram itself is highly intuitive to recognise and validate. It is impossible to simulate effectively the holograms appearance or security features, which means that consumers and retailers can easily identify and select genuine products. Enforcement officers too can easily verify branded products and have the facility to authenticate them via the internet. Faced with something that easily denotes legitimate products, black market traders are less likely to stock obvious fakes and consumers are more likely to report them.

The system also provides a strong deterrent for preventing royalty fraud as under-reporting becomes highly visible and out of territory sales are easily traceable. It can therefore help reduce the frequency of costly and intrusive royalty audits and also provide a ‘flag’ for further investigation.

As a generic non-brand specific hologram with no origination costs, it is a very cost effective solution for licensors. Holograms can be ready to ship out to licensees at short notice and at a very economical cost.