We are living in crazy times where extreme views and opinions seem to be dominating the news and public opinion. This is happening because we are living in a world where the finical system we have depended on for so long is being called into question, whole industries are disappearing and extreme states of existence (poor and rich) seem to be getting more extreme before our eyes.

It is not surprising then that the authentication and anti-counterfeiting stage is also seeing very extreme opinions take route.

An InkSure employee at a recent industry event reported that many people approached him touting solutions and claiming the solution they had was the only way to effectively protect from counterfeiting.  A little hard to believe these claims considering the multi-tiered anti-counterfeiting solutions out there.

Recent articles and Linkedin discussions have been placing a lot of blame on China for the amount of counterfeit products in the market. Some people blamed Chinese culture; some blamed Chinese access to American manufacturing plants some cited many other reasons as the sole and underlying reason. The truth is, it is not only China that counterfeits and these countries produce a lot of counterfeit for all of the stated reasons and more.

The latest manifestation of the anti-counterfeiting extremes is the fight over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill currently being debated in Congress. Some say the extreme measures will shut down millions of legitimate websites and greatly restrict availability of information; some say the extreme measures are the only way to encourage people to keep creating. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

A little more nuance is needed in thinking about our approach to anti-counterfeiting and brand protection. There are no silver bullets, legal, technical or otherwise. A nuanced multi-faceted approach is needed not only to find solutions but also to make sure we are addressing the right problems.  If we don't address the right problems, we will keep having them and will have spent a lot of time and effort to get nothing done.

Want to learn more about multi-tiered anti-counterfeiting solutions? Make an appointment with an InkSure representative.