ENFORCEMENT

Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator
users; or that the technology may prove difficult to scale
and implement on a product-by-product basis. 19 For
example, although a fake hologram may not fool the
brand owner (or a well-trained law enforcement official),
most untrained enforcement officials, supply chain
intermediaries, retailers, and consumers are unlikely
to be able to differentiate an authentic hologram from
an imitation hologram any more than they may be
able to readily distinguish a legitimate product from a
sophisticated fake copy.
A number of promising technology-based anticounterfeiting
tools are emerging with expanded
capacities and lower costs. For example, through
funding by the National Science Foundation, the
National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Army Research
Office, and the U.S. Air Force, research is being
conducted on the creation and use of micro-particles
(FIG. 51), which are about 200 microns long and thus
invisible to the naked eye, that may serve as unique
product tags or micro-barcodes detectable by handheld
a device, such as a smartphone. 20
seeks to eliminate counterfeit ICs from the electronics
supply chain by making counterfeiting too complex and
time-consuming to be cost effective.
The SHIELD program seeks to develop microscopic
components that could be added into the packaging of
an integrated circuit during manufacturing or in another
trusted setting and later scanned from a handheld
device such as a smartphone (or larger device for large
shipments). These components, known as “dielets” (FIG.
52), would send an encrypted message with information
from embedded sensors to prove their authenticity
and provide confirmation as to whether they have
been subject to any tampering. Once these and other
promising developments are realized, then an untrained
operator at any place along the supply chain will be
able to confirm the authenticity of any component in
the military supply chain and commercial sector alike,
receiving high-confidence results immediately, on site,
securely, and at nominal cost. This is one example of
emerging technologies that must serve as part of the
solution to address illicit activity in the global era.
FIG. 51: Glowing Stripes—Example of Micro-Barcodes Applied
to Drug Packaging.
FIG. 52: DARPA Concept—A high-frequency (HF) RFID silicon
chip (“dielet”).
Size on Display: At a size of 100x100 microns, the “dielet”
fits on tip of Lincoln’s nose on a penny (L), and easily passes
through the eye of a needle (R).
A smartphone, equipped with a magnifying lens and
infrared light source, acquires an image of the micro-barcodes
embedded onto a pharmaceutical blister pack.
Source: Lincoln Laboratory, MIT
Similarly, the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) is seeking modern, technologicalbased
solutions to address the grave risks that
counterfeit integrated circuits (ICs) pose to the security
and integrity of electronic systems in the military supply
chain. 21 DARPA’s Supply Chain Hardware Integrity for
Electronics Defense (SHIELD) program, for example,
When work on the project is completed in 2019, DARPA
expects that the chip will be used to verify the authenticity
of small electronics, including integrated circuits, used by
both the defense and commercial industries.
Industry’s partnership with law enforcement
to develop, adopt, and implement innovative
authentication technology is critical to frontline
personnel’s ability to spot illicit goods amid the free
flow of legitimate commerce. These technological
breakthroughs not only have the potential to aid
in interdiction efforts, but may also reduce overall
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