Hologram Industry News

MUMBAI: The voter identity card scam came to light when a DNA scribe was issued a fake I-card on December 5 at Shastri Nagar Municipal School in Dharavi. Police investigation into the case has, however, proved that some BMC officials had sensed sinister dealings by employees of Vakrangi Software Limited—the firm making the I-cards—much earlier. They had even alerted their superiors, but no action was taken.
Raghunath Jathar, a BMC official posted at the school, caught a Vakrangi employee trying to make a fake voter I-card by pasting a tampered hologram on it. The employee even showed Jathar how to tamper with the hologram using water. Jathar told the cops that he had conveyed the incident to his superiors. Jathar also noticed another Vakrangi employee, Vikrant Magare, often carrying a personal pen drive into the room where the cards were being made. He handed over the pen drive to his superior, Sunand Gaggar, a day after DNA published the story on December 6. Police seized the pen drive and found it was formatted, but contained no data.

For completer story, please log into : http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1141848

New Delhi: 2 December 2007
Holograms are the best method pharma companies can used to fight against counterfeiters. According to Mr. U K Gupta, CMD of Holostik India Limited the Indian hologram business is growing at a rate of 30-35% annually and it will increase more as the counterfeiting drug industry in India is approx $ US 1 billion.
For more news, please click the link:
2-december-2007.pdf

New Delhi: Taking a tough stand against video piracy, a session court here as ordered sealing of a Delhi-based factory allegedly engaged in counterfeiting of hindi-films CD’s.
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december-252007.pdf

Pune-based pharma packaging company Bilcare Research has launched a product to help check the menace of counterfeit drugs. The product has a label with a unique bar code made out of nanotechnology and fingerprinting.
The customer has to swipe the drug packet in the scanner or at select ATMs to verify the authenticity of the drug. MNC pharma major Pfizer vice-president John L LaMattina was also present at the function, which was attended by former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
Sources: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

MELBOURNE, Elkins Industries’ new 3400S portable semiconductor laser system has an output power of 35 to 40 mW continuous wave (CW) and as much as 50 mW for peak radiant flux. The company said the laser is rugged, lighweight, portable (0.750 ” diameter x 3.750-in. laser head; 5.80″ x 5.250″ x 2.10″ system unit) and easy to use.

Holograms can be made and “played back” with the laser, which has industrial, medical, scientific and general applications. It can operate in either CW or pulse mode with ~40 percent duty cycles and exhibits low divergence and spot size over a great distance. It can be used directly with a provided AC power adaptor (battery charges last for 6 to 10 hours, and it stores a charge for several months when not in use).
Sources: http://www.photonics.com/content/products/2007/December/14/89991.aspx

Popular handbag brand Radley are planning to use new anti-counterfeit technology to stop people selling fake versions of their Autumn 08 range. The brand, with it’s distinctive Scottie dog logo plan to use LCD technology to place a hologram type label in the back of each bag, featuring the dog logo, that will change from positive to negative when moved.
These extra security measures will feature the dog logo, that will change colour when moved so fakes can easily be spotted.
Radley, owned by equity firm Phoenix are on a mission to stop their bags being sold in the growing counterfeit market. They have successfully removed fakes from ebay, and are working with customs and trading standards to identify the culprits.
Sources: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/lifestyle-fashion/stylenews/Radley-4226.html\

MILPITAS, Calif., Dec. 11, 2007 — JDSU will acquire American Bank Note Holographics Inc. (ABNH), a Robbinsivlle, N.J., maker of holograms for providers of cards issued by more than 20,000 financial institutions, for $138 million in cash and stock, the companies announced today.

ABNH, which has about 110 employees, American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. (ABNH) is a world leader in the design, production and marketing of security holograms that authenticate valuable documents and products. It will become part of JDSU’s Advanced Optical Technologies business segment. Its “holographic origination” technologies will be added to JDSU’s patent-protected portfolio of optical security products, JDSU said in a statement. The transaction is expected to be final in the quarter ending March 31, 2008, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

JDSU, which makes communications test and measurement and optical products for numerous markets, said the acquisition will build its position in security technology for brand protection and enable it to expand into security for transaction card-based commerce and for product authentication and brand protection.
For more information, visit: www.jdsu.com

Air Force-funded scientists are developing hologram displays that could offer commanders an overhead view of battle-space terrain in nearly real time.

Though holographic images of battle space can be projected now, they’re not very practical. The displays are typically one foot by one foot, monochromatic and slow to load, according to a University of Arizona team paid by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

But those scientists are now developing rapidly updatable holographic displays in color that are roughly three feet by three feet. The scientists project high-definition three-dimensional images with laser light.

“We use high-efficiency, low-cost dynamic recording material capable of very large sizes, which is important for life-size realistic 3-D displays,” said Nasser Peyghambarian, a scientist leading the research team. “It’s believed that pilots may react and make decisions much faster if they receive 3-D information, which is much more realistic compared to the two-dimensional displays they currently use.”
sources: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/12/airforce_holograms_071211/

Penang, MALAYASIA: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will introduce a refined hologram sticker to be affixed to genuine VCDs, CDs and DVDs to combat piracy. According to Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal the introducing sticker would have better security features.
He said the hologram label, which has running serial numbers, would help the public identify original products from pirated ones.
For more details
Sources:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/12/11/nation/20071211135642&sec=nation

Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) released a new banknote of 20 leva on November 12. Size, colour scheme, graphic design and protective elements of the new banknotes were identical to the previous one, BNB said.The innovations were in the anti-copy stripe, the water seal and the hologram stripe of the bank-note.
The front of the banknote have image of 19th century Bulgarian Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov.
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgarian-national-bank-presents-new-20leva-banknote/id_26098/catid_66