We, Ceprohart, a producer of special paper and board, have focused in the last years on the development of security paper and complete and innovative security solutions for valuable documents that support the fight against counterfeiting, transferring into production a whole range of products with high level of originality and complexity.
I started the article that way because, in my various discussion I have with people, especially from Braila, and about everyone workplace, the most of them say that they heard about Ceprohart, but they vaguely know the main activity of this company.
Of course, I was often asked what the security paper is. The simplest answer, for everyone’s language is: “Security paper is an office or printing paper that contain diferent security elements embedded in its structure.”
And because the next question was what a security element is, I suppose that also you, those who read this article and you probably are not specialists in the field, think about the same question. So, when we talk about security elements we think about watermark, magnetic microwires, coloured/fluorescent fibres, fluorescent/IR dots, pigments, chemical protection, embedded security thread, thermochromic planchette, cotton fibres, security ink, etc. Practically can be used any material that has a special and unique property that can be easily verified.
Every time I talk about Ceprohart, I notice with pleasure how much I aroused the people curiosity. And this because our activity is different from all the companies in Braila, Romania and among the few in Europe.
We were all “cheated” once at least, when we purchased a product that is wanted to be original, and of course …. expensive. In order to be able to avoid being fooled and to better understand the counterfeiting phenomenon, I propose to talk a little about what a counterfeit product is.
We can say about a counterfeit product that it is any good, including its packaging, where is found the unauthorized use of a trademark that is identical to a registered trademark or any product that can not be distinguished in its essential aspects from a branded product, which violates the rights provided by the law of the legal trademark owner.
Maintaining the product intrinsic characteristics means, in fact, preserving quality. In this regard, the fight against counterfeiting gains a global importance, especially since the products counterfeiting has acquired industrial and international dimensions.
Counterfeiting involves fraudulent imitation in order to mislead the consumer, on the basis of the resemblance to the original product, the trademark reproduction for identical or similar products, the label and any kind of packaging manufacture, containing brand reproductions or taking advantage of the reputation of a notorious brand.
Operations assimilated to counterfeiting are also misleading the consumer by putting into circulation products bearing a phonetic name similar to a registered trademark, for identical or similar products.
Let me tell you some information about the counterfeiting phenomenon that can be found under “Did you know?”
- The first “legal” counterfeiting was the one that took place during the Roman Empire, when the Roman soldiers battling in the enemy territories were paid with silver covered copper coins and not pure silver coins. This measure was taken that if they were taken prisoners, the confiscated coins would not be of silver but of copper, a less precious metal at that time.
- Along with the print spreading, counterfeited chronicles, bibles and rewritten prayer books appeared, as well as a flourishing trade with counterfeit sacraments.
- The first forgeries on the Romania territory are considered to have been those that appeared in a mint in the Banat area, that made coins for the Ottoman Empire
- A famous counterfeiting example: it is believed that there are over 9,000 paintings signed by Rembrandt in the world. But the Dutch researchers have shown that can not be more than 900 paintings signed by him.
- The online sale of counterfeit medicines has received INTERPOL’s attention, as it has been found that over 50% of marketed medicines on illegal sites are counterfeited.
- Illegal cigarette trafficking in Romania is one of the main manifestations of cross-border crime, a phenomenon that has ramifications across the country. Thus, in 2016 the border policemen confiscated 1,646,700 cigarette packs with a value of 16,158,900 lei, 579.29 kg of tobacco, and 18 organized groups were identified and annihilated.
The counterfeiting phenomenon has a huge worldwide impact affecting both the economic environment and people’s health. Therefore, I am proud to talk about my job, because Ceprohart offers, exclusively in Romania, last generation and unique solutions for the protection and authentication of valuable documents, trademarks and products.
