QR Code Turns 30 🎂 Simplifying Life, but Not Authentication

Did you know that "QR" in QR code stands for quick response?

QR codes were originally invented by Masahiro Hara in 1994 while working at Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota in Japan. Traditional barcodes could only store limited information (about 20 alphanumeric characters), which was insufficient for their needs. Hara and his team developed a two-dimensional code that could hold more information and be scanned faster than traditional barcodes. The design was influenced by the black and white stones on a Go board (quintessential Japanese engineering!). The resulting code could store 350 times more data than a traditional barcode.

The reason QR codes are so widely used today is that Denso Wave made the technology publicly available and didn’t exercise their patent rights, allowing for broad adoption. This fact led to QR codes being widely used for product tracking, marketing, document management, and item authentication.

The idea behind using QR codes for authentication is the following: a QR code is attached to the product so that it can be scanned later to verify the product's authenticity. However, there are at least two problems with this approach. First, QR codes with no security measures can be easily copied. Second, QR codes can be easily reverse-engineered. Someone could read the text in an authentic QR code, modify it, print a new QR code, and then place the updated one on a counterfeit item. This makes the code and the item falsely appear legitimate when they are not.

How O’Legit Can Help

At O’Legit, we understand how important it is to protect brand integrity. That’s why we have developed an advanced solution to combat counterfeits through our digital fingerprinting technology, SurfID™.

We scan the surface of each legitimate product to create a unique digital fingerprint, capturing every characteristic to ensure a highly accurate identification. Later, the product can be scanned again to verify its authenticity by matching its current state with the stored digital fingerprint. Even if a counterfeit item appears extremely similar to the original item, we can detect it.

If you’re interested in learning more about how our solution can help your brand fight against counterfeits, let’s chat!

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