JP7514109B2 - Authenticity labels and label substrates - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to authenticity determination labels. It also refers to a label substrate for producing the authenticity determination labels and an authentication system using the authenticity determination labels.

For manufacturers, it is important to take measures against counterfeit goods that are not genuine products that they produce. Cheap counterfeit goods that are illegally distributed can erode the market for genuine products and undermine trust in genuine products.
As a mechanism for eliminating counterfeit products, there is known an authenticity determination system that determines whether a product obtained in the market is a genuine product.

The technology described in Patent Document 1 compares a first random number printed on the display tag with a second random number printed on the warranty card to determine authenticity.

JP 2003-281302 A

The technology described in Patent Document 1 can make two random numbers variable, which is expected to have a certain effect in preventing counterfeit products. However, since the first random number and the second random number are printed on separate labels, the work of attaching the labels to products becomes complicated.

In light of the above, the present invention aims to provide an authenticity determination label that is highly effective in preventing counterfeit products and is easy to attach to products, etc.

A first aspect of the present invention is an authenticity determination label comprising a first label having a first printed layer displaying first information and a second label having a second printed layer displaying second information. The first label is joined to the second label such that the second printed layer cannot be seen. A portion of the first label can be separated from the second printed layer, and is configured so that the second printed layer can be seen by being separated. The first information and the second information are combined to form authenticity determination information.
Furthermore, an adhesive is disposed on the underside of a portion of the first label, and is configured so that when the portion of the first label is separated, a portion of the second printed layer is removed from the second label.

A second aspect of the present invention is a label substrate for producing an authenticity determining label .
The authenticity determination label to be manufactured comprises a first label having a first printed layer displaying first information and a second label having a second printed layer displaying second information, the first label is joined to the second label so that the second printed layer cannot be seen, a portion of the first label is configured to be separated from the second printed layer and to be separated so that the second printed layer can be seen, the first information and the second information are combined to form the authenticity determination information, the portion of the first label is located in the center of the authenticity determination label when viewed in a plane, an adhesive layer is provided on the underside of a portion of the peripheral portion and the portion is joined to the second label, and a slit is formed at the boundary between the portion and the peripheral portion, penetrating in the thickness direction of the first label.
This label base material has a first region on one side in the width direction where a plurality of first printed layers are formed, and a second region on the other side in the width direction where a plurality of second printed layers are formed.
An adhesive layer having a shape corresponding to the plurality of peripheral portions is provided on the lower surface of the first region, and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is formed over the entire lower surface of the second region.

The authenticity determination label of the present invention is highly effective in preventing counterfeit products and is easy to attach to products, etc.

1 is a plan view of an authenticity determination label according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 1. 13 is a plan view of a second label of the authenticity determination label. FIG. FIG. 2 is a partial plan view showing an example of a label base material used in the production of the authenticity determination device. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 4. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a determination system using the authenticity determination label. 13 is a partial plan view showing a modified example of a label base material used in the manufacture of the authenticity checker. FIG.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of an authenticity determination label 1 of this embodiment. Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line II in Fig. 1. The authenticity determination label 1 includes a first label 10 constituting the uppermost surface, and a second label 30 attached below the first label 10.

The first label 10 has a sheet-like first substrate 11 and a first printed layer 12 formed on the upper surface 11a of the first substrate 11. The first printed layer 12 displays first information used to determine authenticity, and in the example of FIG. 1, the first information is "1." The serial number of the product may also be used as the first information.

There are no particular restrictions on the material of the first substrate 11, and resin, paper, etc. can be used. The first substrate 11 has a U-shaped slit 13 that penetrates in the thickness direction, and is structured so that the central area 10a (part) surrounded by the slit 13 can be turned up relative to area 10b (periphery). When the authenticity determination label is manufactured, the slit 13 is an intermittent perforation and is not continuous, so area 10a cannot be turned up.

The second label 30 has a sheet-like second base material 31 and a second printed layer 32 formed on an upper surface 31a of the second base material 31. The second printed layer 32 displays second information used for authenticity determination. The second information is individually associated with the first information.
Fig. 3 shows a plan view of the second label 30. In the example of Fig. 3, "A" is the second information.

The second substrate 31 may be the same as the first substrate. An adhesive layer 33 for attaching the authenticity determination label 1 to a target article is provided on the lower surface 31b of the second substrate 31. Any of various known adhesives may be appropriately selected as the adhesive layer 33. The adhesive layer 33 may be covered with a release paper or the like until the authenticity determination label is attached to the article.
The area 10a and the second label 30 may be in a non-adhesive state, or may be weakly attached with a temporary adhesive or the like that can be easily peeled off.

The first label 10 is disposed on the second label 30, covering the second printed layer 32 so that it cannot be seen, and is firmly bonded in the area 10b by the adhesive layer 15. This prevents the first label 10 from being unintentionally peeled off from the second label 30 during manufacturing, transportation, etc., and being mistaken for having been peeled off illegally.
When the area 10a of the first label 10 is turned up, the second printed layer 32 can be seen.

In one embodiment of the authenticity determination labels 1, the first information and the second information are different for all of the labels produced in plurality. That is, when there are 100 authenticity determination labels 1, there are 100 types of first information and 100 types of second information. In another embodiment, one of the first information and the second information is all different, and the other is one selected from a plurality of options. For example, when there are 100 authenticity determination labels 1, there are 100 types of first information and 10 types of second information.
In these embodiments, the combination of the first information and the second information is different for every authentication label, and constitutes unique authentication information.

An example of a manufacturing procedure for the authenticity discriminating label 1 having the above configuration will be described.
First, a label base material 100 that will become the first label and the second label is prepared. Fig. 4 shows a partial plan view of the label base material 100. The label base material 100 has a first region 101 where a plurality of first labels are formed on one side and a second region 102 where a plurality of second labels are formed on the other side, with the center in the width direction as the boundary. A plurality of first printed layers 12 are formed in the first region 101, and a plurality of second printed layers 32 are formed in the second region 102.

The first region 101 and the second region 102 are provided with a plurality of unit regions u10 and u30 for forming the first label 10 and the second label 30, respectively. The unit regions u10 and u30 are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix. In this embodiment, the matrices of the first region 101 and the second region 102 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the widthwise center line C. The specific aspects of the two-dimensional matrix, such as the number of rows and the number of columns, can be set appropriately according to the dimensions of the label base material 100, etc.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.
An adhesive layer 15 is applied to the lower surface of the first region 101 in accordance with the shape of each region 10b, and is covered with a separator S. An adhesive layer 33 is formed on the entire lower surface of the second region 102, and is covered with a separator S.

For the label base material 100 configured as described above, printing is applied to unit areas u10 and u30 to form a first printed layer 12 and a second printed layer 32, and the base material is cut along the widthwise center line to separate the base material into a first region 101 and a second region 102.
Next, the separator S of the first region 101 is peeled off, and the first region 101 is overlapped and joined to the second region 102 so that the matrix of the unit region u10 and the matrix of the unit region u30 overlap when the label substrate 100 is viewed in a plan view.

A slit 13 is formed in each unit area u10 using a punching blade or the like, and the authenticity determination label 1 is completed by punching out each unit area.
Since the authenticity determination label 1 is an integrated unit of a first label 10 having first information and a second label 30 having second information, by simply attaching one authenticity determination label 1 to an article, authenticity determination information with a high anti-counterfeiting effect can be imparted to the article, making it possible to easily suppress counterfeiting.

The above-described manufacturing procedure is a preferred example, and is not limited to this manufacturing method of the authenticity determination label 1. For example, the following modifications are possible.
The first and second regions may be formed on different substrates. However, forming the first and second regions on a common substrate is more efficient because the first and second printed layers can be formed simultaneously using a single device.
The first printed layer and the second printed layer may be formed after the label base material 100 is separated into the first region 101 and the second region 102. However, if the first printed layer and the second printed layer are formed before the base material is separated, the first printed layer and the second printed layer can be formed simultaneously in one device, which is more efficient.
The formation of the first printed layer 12 and the second printed layer 32, cutting and separating the label base material 100, peeling off the separator S from the first region 101, and overlapping and joining the first region 101 and the second region 102 may be performed continuously while unwinding the long label base material 100 wound in a roll shape. In this way, not only is the manufacturing efficiency significantly improved, but it also becomes almost unnecessary to align the first region and the second region in the longitudinal direction of the label base material 100 when overlapping them.

In the above-mentioned manufacturing procedure, unit areas u10 and u30 that are in the same position on the matrix (n rows, m columns: n and m are natural numbers) are superimposed, and the combination of the first information and the second information is used for authenticity determination. Therefore, the authenticity determination information consisting of this combination is obtained when the authenticity determination label is manufactured, and is stored in the determination server described later.
The authenticity determination information can be acquired at various times. For example, a combination can be created using the first information and the second information generated in advance, and the combination can be stored in the determination server. As another method, randomly generated characters, numbers, etc. can be printed as the first printed layer 12 and the second printed layer 32 in each unit area, and the first printed layer 12 and the second printed layer 32 can be imaged before the label base material 100 is separated. The image can be processed to read the information of each unit area, and a combination can be generated using the information of two unit areas that are located at the same position on the matrix, and the combination can be stored in the determination server.

A description will now be given of an authenticity determination method using the authenticity determination label 1. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a system relating to authenticity determination using the authenticity determination label 1.
This system has a determination server 201 connected to a network 200. The determination server 201 has a memory unit 202 that stores combination information of the first information and the second information in each authenticity determination label 1, and a calculation unit 203 that performs authenticity determination using received information and the memory unit 202. The combination information of each authenticity determination label 1 is acquired when the authenticity determination label 1 is manufactured, and is sent from a manufacturer terminal 210 to the determination server 201 via the network 200, and stored in the memory unit 202.
A known computing device such as a computer can be used as the determination server 201 having the computing unit 203, and various information storage media can be used as the storage unit 202. The storage unit 202 may be located inside or outside the determination server 201.

A purchaser of a product to which the authenticity determination label 1 is affixed obtains the first information from the first printed layer 12 of the first label 10, and then turns over the area 10a to obtain the second information from the second printed layer 32.
The purchaser transmits the acquired first information and second information as inquiry authenticity information from a purchaser terminal 211 such as a personal computer or smartphone to the determination server 201 via the network 200. If the first printed layer 12 and the second printed layer 32 are barcodes or two-dimensional codes that encode the first information and the second information, respectively, the first information and the second information can be automatically read by the purchaser terminal, which is convenient.

The determination server 201, which has received the inquiry authenticity information consisting of the first information and the second information, searches whether or not the same combination is stored in the memory unit 202. If the same combination is stored in the memory unit 202, the determination server 201 transmits information to the purchaser terminal 211 that transmitted the information indicating that "the product is genuine." If the same combination is not stored in the memory unit 202, the determination server 201 transmits information to the purchaser terminal 211 that transmitted the information indicating that "the product is not genuine."
Based on the information received from the determination server 201, the purchaser can easily and quickly find out whether the purchased product is genuine or not.

The authenticity determination system according to this embodiment is not limited to one that includes the determination server 201. The purchaser terminal 211 may be made to function as the calculation unit 203 by implementing a program that executes the above-mentioned authenticity determination in the purchaser terminal 211. In this case, the memory unit may be downloaded to the purchaser terminal 211, constructed within the purchaser terminal 211, and updated as necessary.
In addition, the memory unit 202 may be connected to the determination server via the network 200 and queried sequentially via the network 200 .

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it is possible to change the combination of components, make various modifications to each component, or delete components without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Some modifications are illustrated below, but these are not all inclusive and other modifications are also possible. Two or more of these modifications may be combined as appropriate.

In the authenticity determination label, the second label below the area 10a may be treated so that it is easily recognized that it has been peeled off. For such treatment, a known technique may be used in which an adhesive is applied to a portion of the underside of the area 10a, and when the area 10a is turned up, a portion of the second printed layer 32 is removed by the adhesive, revealing a display such as "VOID." This makes it easier to determine at the storefront whether or not it is necessary to deal with minor peeling during the distribution process.
The slit may be formed in a closed ring shape. In this case, the second printed layer can be confirmed by separating the region 10a from the region 10b. Alternatively, the bonding strength between the first label and the second label may be changed for each region, so that some regions can be separated from the second label without using a slit.

- By making the first substrate or the second substrate transparent, the first printed layer or the second printed layer may be provided on the underside of the substrate. However, since the first label needs to cover the second printed layer so that it cannot be seen during production, if the first printed layer is provided on the underside of the first substrate, it is preferable to form a concealing layer that covers the second printed layer on the first printed layer by full-surface printing or the like after forming the first printed layer.

When the method for manufacturing an authenticity determination label is configured to select the second information from a plurality of options, the second region 102 may have an index Id, as in the modified example shown in Fig. 7. The index Id shown in Fig. 7 indicates the second information of each of four adjacent unit regions u30. Therefore, even after the first region 101 and the second region 102 are superimposed, the authenticity determination information for each unit region can be obtained by reading the index. The number of second information pieces to be included in one index may be two or more, and can be set as appropriate.
In such a modified example, since the first region and the second region are different in size, the matrix of the first region and the matrix of the second region do not necessarily need to be arranged symmetrically with respect to the center line C in the width direction.
By providing an index, even if there is a risk of misalignment due to the necessity of printing the first and second areas separately, authenticity determination information can be accurately obtained by reading the index after overlapping the first and second areas.

In the authenticity determination method, a threshold value may be set for the number of determinations, and may be added to the criteria for determination by the determination device. For example, if the number of searches for a certain combination of authenticity determination information stored in the storage unit exceeds the threshold value, the product may be determined to be a counterfeit even if it matches the received authenticity determination information. In this case, the calculation unit 203 may process it as "undeterminable" and display on the purchaser terminal, "This information has already been determined. Please contact the manufacturer." This makes it easy to detect cases where a third party has produced multiple counterfeit labels that replicate a single piece of authenticity determination information and attached them to counterfeit products.
It is preferable that the threshold value be the same as the number of authenticity determination labels having the same authenticity determination information (for example, the threshold value is "1" when only one authenticity determination label having the same authenticity determination information is manufactured), but the threshold value may be a small number greater than the number of authenticity determination labels, taking into account operational errors by purchasers and the fact that some purchasers perform authenticity determination multiple times.

- Products to which the authenticity determination label of the present invention can be applied are typically luxury items such as alcoholic beverages and brand-name products, but are not limited to these. The present invention can be applied to any product for which counterfeits are likely to be distributed, such as ink cartridges and replacement parts.

1 Authenticity determination label 10 First label 10a Area (part)
10b Region (periphery)
12 First printed layer 13 Slit 15 Adhesive layer 30 Second label 32 Second printed layer 33 Adhesive layer 100 Label base material 101 First region 102 Second region Id Index 202 Memory unit 203 Calculation unit

Claims (3)

a first label having a first print layer displaying first information;
a second label having a second printed layer displaying second information;
Equipped with
The first label is bonded to the second label such that the second printed layer is not visible;
A portion of the first label is configured to be separable from the second printed layer, and the second printed layer is configured to be visible by being separated from the first label,
The first information and the second information are combined to form authenticity determination information,
an adhesive is disposed on a lower surface of the portion of the first label;
When the portion is separated, a portion of the second printed layer is removed from the second label.
Authenticity label. a label base material for producing an authenticity determination label comprising: a first label having a first printed layer displaying first information; and a second label having a second printed layer displaying second information, the first label being joined to the second label such that the second printed layer cannot be visually recognized, a portion of the first label being separable from the second printed layer and being configured so that the second printed layer can be visually recognized by being separated, the first information and the second information being combined to constitute authenticity determination information, the portion of the first label being located in a central portion in a plan view of the authenticity determination label, an adhesive layer being provided on an underside of a peripheral portion of the portion and joined to the second label, and a slit penetrating in a thickness direction of the first label being formed at the boundary between the portion and the peripheral portion ,
A first region in which a plurality of the first printing layers are formed is provided on one side in the width direction,
A second region in which a plurality of the second printing layers are formed is provided on the other side of the width direction,
The adhesive layer is provided on a lower surface of the first region and has a shape corresponding to the plurality of peripheral portions,
An adhesive layer is formed over the entire lower surface of the second region.
Label substrate. the second area has indexes indicating a plurality of the second information;
The label substrate according to claim 2 .

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