Schreiner ProTech launches microfont anti-counterfeiting technology

The microfont system incurs no additional costs because all required infrastructure such as the film and the laser equipment is already available on customers standard laser printing line operations.

Nearly indiscernible with the naked eye, the microfont can be read only under a microscope at 40-fold magnification. Its exceedingly small size is possible by a thin (less than 1 micron) laser-sensitive film layer. By comparison, conventional laser films have a layer thickness of 50 microns. This minimized coating thickness allows to maximize font resolution, resulting in enhanced microscopic delicacy. 

Product piracy continues to be pervasive worldwide. Just in Germany alone, the cost of counterfeit goods is estimated at EUR 54 billion, according to a survey by Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW). ‘One in ten companies in Germany has been the victim of product and brand piracy at least once in the past five years,’ said Oliver Koppel, one of the IW experts. 

Unfortunately, product protection solutions often involve additional costs and are at risk of being faked themselves. Schreiner ProTech’s microfont solution solves for both issues by employing a combination of existing infrastructure and difficulty of duplication. 

Even if the microfont is detected, counterfeiters wouldn’t be able to replicate it because they lack the key components of the variable marking system: color laser film is not freely accessible and its complementary Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet) laser system is difficult to obtain.