FR2556867A1 - Method of security marking, materials provided with security marks, and their applications - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of security marking, using rare earths or composites of rare earths forming a code or a security mark, associated or not associated with other security marks, materials marked according to this method, and the application of this security marking to fiduciary documents or other materials.

Description

Security marking process,
materials with safety marks,
and their applications
The present invention relates to security marking methods, materials provided with these marks, with applications in the protection against falsification, counterfeiting or difficulty in identifying fiduciary documents and other materials available at the industrial stage or at the consumer level.

 The expression "fiduciary documents" designates here and in the following papers such as papers for banknotes, checks, stocks, securities, stamps, official documents, identity cards, passports, booklets, tickets, tickets, vouchers, newsletters, books of account, as well as credit, payment, access, multifunction, and similar cards, necessarily of a high level of security.

The protection of fiduciary documents against falsification, counterfeiting has been ensured in the prior art in different ways:
- By incorporating invisible ink1 of watermark, threads, films, boards, confetti, invisible, colored, metallized, magnetizable, the state of the prior art being illustrated by French patents 551 615, British 1 127 043 .

 - by incorporating magnetic materials, possibly in combination with other characteristics (French patent 2,393,106).

 - by incorporation of luminescent substances, excitable and emitting in one or more parts of the spectrum, visible or invisible, with in particular French patents 1,471,367, i 520,520, 2,289,976, 2,423,522, French patent applications 2,483,334 , 2 484 920, 2 484 921, 2 484922, German patent application 3 123 470.

 - by incorporating magnetizable fibers in a preferred direction (German patent application 2 328 880), fibers containing liquid crystals (German patent application 2 212 350), metallized and fluorescent materials (French patent application 2 439 094) .

 - by incorporation of chemical agents reactive with the pH of the papers and its modification (French patents 2,365,656, 2,399,505, 2,402,739, 2,406,027, 2,427,426, French patent application 2,410,02).

 - by incorporation of iridescent material (French patent 2,429,292), dichroSque coatings (French patent application 2,365,657).

 It appears that the state of the prior art, illustrated by this non-exhaustive list, has seen the use of various techniques and procedures with different results depending on the procedures.

 Indeed it is generally accepted by experts in this field, that the use of several security features in a fiduciary document ensures, compared to the protection provided by a security feature, a disproportionate increase in protection against imitation, because on the one hand a good part of the security characteristics mentioned above are known and detectable by means or machines available for counterfeiters and falsifiers, on the other hand the scarcity of the materials used is sometimes quite relative, this which allows the counterfeiter or falsifier to obtain it.

 We therefore feel the need for an extremely high level of security, which is practically undetectable, not liable to counterfeiting, and in case there is a counterfeiting, a means of going back to the infringer.

 The present invention provides such a level of security by adopting a marking method using rare earths or their compounds, luminescent or non-luminescent, associated or not associated with other security characteristics.

These rare earths and their compounds have interesting characteristics in the field of inventon, in particular on the following points:
- these rare earths and their compounds are completely absent naturally from the materials normally used in the production of fiduciary documents and most products available at the industrial stage or at the consumer level.

 - these rare earths and their compounds are produced by a limited number of manufacturers.

 - These rare earths and their compounds can eg be dosed together in very small quantities, generally expressed in parts per millon or parts per log, and can, by a perfectly reproducible dosage when the formula is known, constitute by their quantities and their combinations not only an identification mark but also an invisible code.

 - an identification mark and / or a code may be made up by the introduction of a single rare earth or a single rare earth compound, but preferably several rare earths or compounds will be used simultaneously.

 - the subsequent verification of the identification or the code is very simple in the case where one knows the formula; on the other hand, the discovery of the identifying code is impossible when this characteristic is ignored, and the code, even detected, is very difficult to reproduce exactly, especially if the formula is made very complex by the presence of several rare earths or compounds of rare earths .

 - the confidential code or the identification mark consists of the presence in the material thus marked of rare earth ions; the detection, identification and quantification of these rare earth ions nt made by analysis methods adapted to this type of research with in particular analyzes by X-ray diffraction, neutron activation, plasma spectrometry, X-ray fluorescence, spectroscopy of absorption, mass spectrometry, conventional chemistry techniques and other suitable techniques.

 - depending on the nature of the material to be marked or according to its use, one or more rare earth compounds are used which are chemically, physically or otherwise compatible with the material to be marked in order to allow marking on the surface, in the mass or at a preferential location choose the material to mark.

 The present invention also provides a high security marking method by combining the new method described above, with possibly other security methods or characteristics, some of which are already used in this field and most of which have been used in particular. cited in the study of the state of the prior art.

 Indeed, it appears interesting to systematically mark fiduciary documents by means of the method of marking rare earths or their compounds, in combination with at least one of the security characteristics already cited in the description of the prior art, because the authenticity verification process will go from the simplest to the most complex, reserving the most complex for doubtful cases, and thus avoiding an unnecessary increase in verification costs in non-doubtful cases.

 Another object of the invention relates to a marking allowing very reliable identification, for example during the life of the product thus marked with rare earths or their compounds, according to the same principle of quantities and combinations described above. This process is applicable to very diverse materials of which we will cite in particular, without restricting the object of this invention to the cited materials, cellulosic materials, plastics, metals, metallic alloys, glasses, fabrics, chemicals, leathers, construction materials, cosmetic products, which can be qualified as raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products, presented in any physical form.

 Or. Indeed feels the need for a permanent and sare identification of a material or a product, being able to indicate, by its permanent and discreet coding, the date of manufacture, the place of production, the composition of this material or of this product, the name of the recipient, or other information of the same kind, very useful in the event, for example, of dispute between the producer and the recipient, in the event of a guarantee given on this material or this product; in these cases an identification verification is possible, several months or even several years after the supply or manufacture of this material or product thus marked, by analyzes using the same devices or machines already mentioned for the verification of fiduciary documents; this verification allows a very secure identification or authentication, for example, in different opposing a supplier and a user, on a possible substitution of this material thus marked by another material in all points similar, except its internal code produced by the introduction of rare earths and of which rare earth ions are detected by analysis in precise quantities and combinations.

 The material thus marked is permanently marked, rare opposition to the usually visible markings which are altered by their aging or external elements to the point of often disappearing completely after a few years. This material or this product thus marked may contain rare earths or their compounds in any part of the material or product, in particular on the surface, in the mass, in a stratum, in a preferentially marked location.

The following two examples illustrate the objects of the invention:
EXAMPLE:
10 g of dysprosium chelate and in suspension 10 mg of yttrium oxide labeled with a combination not present in nature such as 5 * of holmium oxide and 2% are incorporated into a liter of colorless varnish of the heliographic type. europium oxide; such a varnish is deposited on a polyester film which is then cut into strips.

When making banknote papers, this strip is introduced into the thickness of the paper which is then printed. The banknote thus obtained has the following security features: - visible patterns very difficult to reproduce, - a security thread, - a security thread excitable under ultraviolet rays and emitting in yellow, - a safety marked by rare earth oxides and whose authenticity is verifiable by qualitative and quantitative analysis of rare earth ions.

 This ticket can be subject to very complete checks in case of doubt about its authenticity, and its internal code obtained by rare earth ions will reveal, by analysis, if there is, for example, correspondence between the visible number of series of the note and the same coded number and present in the form of internal and invisible coding, qualitative and quantitative of the rare earth ions. This gives an extremely reliable security marking and a very secure bank note.

The verification can thus go from the simplest to the most complex, that is to say in this case, from the visible (patterns and security thread), to the visible under certain conditions (security thread excitable by ultra-violet rays and
emitting yellow fluorescence--), undetectable (code
internal rare earth ions
As an alternative to this example, it is possible to make a
fiduciary document of which one or more parties,.
feeling the security marks, object of the invention,
are detachable for authenticity verification, without
however, alter the fiduciary nature of the document.

EXAMPLE 2
We know that famous perfumes are commonly the subject of counterfeits, contraband and diversion of shipments; the conerefactors who manage to reconstitute the main active principles of the perfume, often reproduce the entire packaging and sell this counterfeit perfume under the brand of the real perfume, thus causing very significant harm to the manufacturer of the real perfume
We also know that diversions of shipments are common, the indelicate buyer not reselling his perfume in his country, but taking advantage of a price level distortion from one country to another, will redirect his purchase in a country third party at a higher selling price, which will increase its profit but will cause considerable harm to the manufacturer of the authentic perfume.

 To fight against these frauds on perfumes, one incorporates into 100 liters of a reputed perfume, prepared for a named buyer from country "B", a suspension of Smg of lutecium oxide and 0.1 mg of oxide of thullium; these 100 1 thus marked are distributed in perfume bottles which are sent to this buyer.

 In case of counterfeit, the absence of this combination in the counterfeit perfume will reveal and prove the counterfeit.

 In the event of diversion, the presence of this combination in a perfume bottle distributed in a country "Cl ', will reveal the diversion and even the identity of the indelicate buyer of country" B "who operated this diversion.

This provides a decisive element of evidence for
the perfumer who seeks to protect himself against counterfeiting
or diversion.

Of course, the invention is not limited to
exemplary embodiments described above from which we can provide other modes and other embodiments without departing from the scope of the inveFtion.

Claims (5)

 1- security marking process, characterized in that it consists of the incorporation, in and / or on the material or the product to be marked, of one or more rare earths, or of one or more compounds of rare earths, luminescent or non-luminescent, dosed in quantities and combinations such that they form a code, a mark of identification, security, or authenticity, the verification of which is made by quantitative and qualitative analysis of the ions of rare earths thus present in or on the material or product thus marked, usable in the fields where such codes or marks are required, associated or not associated with other visible or invisible marking processes.  2- security marking method according to claim t, characterized in that it consists only of the introduction of rare earths or rare earth compounds in or on the material or product to be marked.  3- safety marking method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises, as a first safety characteristic, the introduction into or onto the material or product to be marked of rare earths or of rare earth compounds, and as a second security feature, a visible and / or invisible security marking method using, inter alia, at least one of the following security marks: - a luminescent material, excitable in any part of the spectrum, visible , X-rays, ultra-violet, infra-red, emitting in any part of the spectrum, visible, X-rays, ultra-violet, infra-red, - a material absorbing X-rays, - a magnetic material, - a film, ribbons, threads, crossed threads,  confetti, fiber, safety boards,  - an ink,  - a varnish,  - a coating solution, - a spraying solution,  - microcapsules,  - a photoconductive material,  - a metal or metal alloy deposited under vacuum or  by sputtering,  - an electrically conductive layer,  - liquid crystals,  - a watermark,  - embossing, pressing, perforation of coding,  - a chemical agent reacting to the modification of the PH,  - an iridescent material,  - a dichotic coating.  Su gtdtereia authenticated or coded according to one  any of the preceding claims, characterized  in that he or she comprises, in the mass, on the surface,  or at a place marked preferentially, one or. of  rare earths or rare earth compounds constituting  a code or a distinctive mark, of authentication,  security, identification, associated or not associated with  other visible and / or invisible security marks.  5- material or product coded according to which one  conch of the preceding claims, characterized in  what she or he is a part of a fiduciary document.  6- material or product authenticated or coded according to any one of claims 1 to '4. charac

 terized in that he or she is a part / of a raw material, a semi-finished product, a finished product.