EUIPO Observatory publishes Anti-counterfeiting Technology Guide

The EUIPO and European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights recently announced the publication of the Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Guide ("ACT Guide") (see here). According to the EUIPO the Guide has been prepared to address the critical threat that counterfeiting poses to supply chains and a perceived lack of information on anti-counterfeiting solutions available to businesses.

The ACT Guide recognises the breadth and complexity of the market for anti-counterfeiting and is aimed at providing a comprehensive user-friendly guide to the main anti-counterfeiting technologies on the market currently. The Guide is structured around five main categories or chapters of technology: electronic, marking, chemical and physical, mechanical, and technologies for digital media. The technologies are categorised by method and each chapter of the Guide contains a useful description of the main characteristics of the technologies, their uses, implementation requirements and costs.

Designed as an "anti-counterfeiting roadmap", the ACT Guide is intended to help businesses of all shapes and sizes decide the optimum anti-counterfeiting measures for their business and industry. The breadth of the guide should be attractive for businesses without an anti-counterfeiting strategy or businesses looking to exploit different technologies and tools or improve an existing strategy. For businesses with more developed anti-counterfeiting strategies the chapter structure should make it relatively quick and easy to review technologies that are already being used or identify new technologies that could replace or compliment existing technologies.

For businesses in industries that are particularly susceptible, the ACT Guide should certainly be a useful resource to help develop sophisticated anti-counterfeiting strategies that utilise advanced technologies. More generally, the ACT Guide provides a useful overview of the practical technologies and tools that businesses can use to proactively protect their intellectual property rights.