ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Kodak joins industry leaders this week during the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition’s (IACC) Spring Conference, May 1–3, to discuss the solutions and strategies that mitigate the global risk of counterfeiting and product diversion.

“Product diversion is a widespread problem that costs brand owners billions of dollars in lost profits and puts millions of consumers at risk,” said Keith Cutri, Director of Business Development for Kodak’s Brand Protection Services and a former FBI agent with nearly 30 years of industry experience. “Kodak is devoted to preventing product diversion with robust systems that enable brands to monitor, track, detect, authenticate, and enforce the protection of products.”

Kodak’s track & trace and authentication solutions feature dual serialization marking and coding paradigms that place two codes on a product or package—an overt code for routine aggregation and distribution processes, and an invisible corresponding covert code used for enforcement. Kodak has teamed up with industry software and hardware leaders to deliver fully customized brand protection solutions with its best-in-class KODAK Track & Trace System, vision camera systems, handheld barcode readers, and packaging line integration, coupled with the KODAK TRACELESS Solutions family of covert markers, smartphone apps, Incident Monitoring System, and Brand Protection Services portfolio.

Experts from Kodak’s Brand Protection Solutions group will show examples of these solutions during the IACC Spring Conference. Businesses and enterprise organizations around the world rely on KODAK Solutions to protect their manufacturing, marketing, packaging, sales and product distribution.

“We are pleased to have Kodak—a founding member of the IACC over three decades ago—participating in this year’s conference. We look forward to Kodak’s continued leadership in the fight against counterfeits, and to their contributions to the Coalition for years to come,” Bob Barchiesi, IACC President. “As counterfeiting operations have become more sophisticated, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between goods that are real and those that are fake. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over $1 billion in fake goods at the border, but we know that the actual volume is much higher. The IACC sees significant value in the anti-counterfeiting technologies that are available to assist legitimate manufacturers, law enforcement personnel and consumers in authenticating goods. We are glad to provide a channel of communication between rights-holders, law enforcement, and such service providers.”

Kodak’s ubiquitous monitoring solution builds upon the dual serialization capability with a smartphone scanning app, which helps to strengthen product defense and enables consumer-level participation in brand protection programs. When a consumer or end user scans the QR code, the brand owner gathers marketing information. Consumers are entered into a loyalty program or receive instant authentication of the product. Meanwhile, the smartphone scans also enable ubiquitous monitoring by sending alerts to an Incident Monitoring System. Examples of alerts could include diversion alerts, counterfeiting alerts, product recalls, and stolen product alerts.

Kodak has a strong history of working with global companies to implement tailored brand protection security systems. Its applications include security features for use in packaging, inks, substrates, plastics, and directly in product materials. Kodak’s brand protection solutions currently benefit customers in the pharmaceutical, health and beauty, consumer product and luxury goods industries.