On Christmas day, a bottle of perfume waits under the Christmas tree. But unfortunately, its scent is somewhat off and it causes a skin burn. The product is a fake. To protect distributors and consumers from such nasty surprises, Paul Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG has developed a new security ink.

EU-wide product piracy is on the rise. Manufacturers suffer losses of 60 billion euros from product pirating, according to a report by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). Moreover, the copies endanger the health of consumers. Cosmetics are a prime example, whereby criminals often mix heavy-metal compounds such as cadmium, nickel, arsenic and lead in the products.

“We want to protect manufacturers and consumers from these serious damages,” explains Christina Leibinger, managing owner of Paul Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, the industrial printer manufacturer from Baden-Württemberg. “That’s why we developed a new security ink that can be quickly and cost-effectively integrated into packaging lines as a tool for more security against product piracy.”

The ink is now available.

The new security ink is suitable for use in the JET3up PI – an inkjet printer that codes product packaging made of plastic, cardboard and even glass or tins with information such as best-before dates and batch numbers. At first glance, the ink looks like a classic black ink, but appearance is deceiving. Under a special UV-light, tiny fluorescent pigments begin to glow greenish. If the distributor shines a specific UV-flashlight onto the product packaging, he or she can immediately identify whether the product is an original. If the font remains black, they can immediately remove the pirated product from circulation.

“Security ink is designed to identify product pirates and help hold them accountable while giving manufacturers a tool to defend themselves against false damage claims and increasing consumer protection,” says Leibinger. “The ink itself is very difficult to copy, since we use security pigments that are not available at every turn.”

The security ink is especially economical compared to other counterfeit security measures. “Manufacturers do not require additional machines, just their inkjet printer. Alternatives, such as holograms, are much more complex by comparison,” explains Leibinger.