EP1278173B1

EP1278173B1 - Removable security identification label

Info

Publication number: EP1278173B1
Application number: EP02380161A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Julia Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre - Agenjo Perez; Juan Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre - Diaz Lopez
Original assignee: Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre
Current assignee: Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre
Priority date: 2001-07-18
Filing date: 2002-07-16
Publication date: 2008-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2022-07-16
Also published as: EP1278173A9; EP1278173A2; EP1278173A3; DE60230091D1; PT1278173E; ES2197761B1; ES2197761A1; ATE416452T1; DK1278173T3; ES2316536T3

Abstract

Starting from the basic structuring of any conventional self-adhesive label, on the basis of a strip of paper (1) bearing the identification details of a given object or product, provided on its rear side with a layer of adhesive (6) for attachment to said object or product, assisted by a siliconized strip (7) removable at the time of its affixture, its features essentially revolve round the fact the aforesaid strip of paper (1) includes on its rear side, between the strip proper and the layer of adhesive 6), a printed message (8), visible through the actual strip of paper (1) and acting as a means for the validation of the label, so that in the event of any possible fraudulent tampering aimed at transferring said label to an object differing from the printed message (8), together with the layer of adhesive (6), it remains affixed to the original object, becomes therefore detached from the label proper (1), and reveals that the latter has been subject to tampering. <IMAGE>

Description

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a removable multi-layer label, of the type intended for identifying a given article or document. As a security label, it may be used for guaranteeing the authenticity and origin of the article which it identifies, for monitoring its serial number and, in general, for all those uses to which security labels are put.
Likewise, as a security label, it will contain a variable number of security items, depending on the application to which it is assigned, which will make it extraordinarily difficult to falsify, tamper with or reproduce the label, in part or in full, along with the fixed or variable information that it might contain.
In its most basic configuration, the label consists of a removable main layer containing the information relating to the product or document it identifies, and a second layer, which remains stuck to the product or document after the main layer has been removed.
The label is designed so that its main layer can be easily detached from the article it identifies and then stuck immediately to another carrier and/or document, so that the label thereby becomes an exchangeable coupon or label. This coupon may be used to obtain some recompense, whether pecuniary or not, associated with the purchase and/or use of the product identified originally by the label.
Once the main layer has been removed, the label layer that remains stuck to the product identified by the security label contains some security elements that assist the identification of the product and make it evident that the main layer is not present. In this way, the product or document it protects is prevented from being used and/or sold for a second time.
The main layer may contain information of every sort. This information, which may be fixed or variable between different labels, may be read or interpreted by means of the use of conventional readers. Once stuck on the carrier document, it facilitates the use of automatic scanners.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One of the common ways of identifying a product or object consists of using a self-adhesive label bearing information referring to said article, such as the maker's name, name of the product, price, bar code, reference number, etc.
These labels are originally provided with a siliconized protector, removable at the time when the label is attached to the object, an attachment which from the theoretical standpoint at least should be irremovable, so that the label cannot be detached from the article without it being destroyed.
If the adhesive is of such a type that the label could be detached from the object it identifies without suffering any damage whatsoever and without causing damage to the surface of the object, in the vast majority of cases the label cannot be stuck subsequently, in a permanent fashion, to another object or document. In addition, no record and/or evidence remains on the object or document from which the label has been detached that it had been stuck to it previously.
There are, finally, other applications for which multi-layer labels may be used, with a construction similar to that advocated here. The label advocated, however, has two clearly differentiating features from these applications:

The removable main layer, intended for use as evidence for obtaining a recompense, is in itself a security label, which incorporates two or more security elements that make it tremendously difficult to falsify and/or reproduce the label or possibly tamper with the items contained on it.
The layer of the label that remains stuck to the product or document that it identifies also has security elements printed on its rear side which help to guarantee the authenticity of the product or document in question, advise of the absence of the main layer and provide evidence of the fact that the product has been duly monitored, as the removable layer or layers have been present.

The fact that the main layer may be used as a coupon or means for checking that the original product or document has been used for the purposes for which it was intended implies the existence of a recompense. This recompense, whether directly pecuniary or not, involves an economic value and is, therefore, subject to possible attempts at fraud, hence the need for the different layers of the label to include security elements.
The existence of this recompense is generally further due to the fact that the product or document that is identified with the label in question has such a value as to be able to generate fraud around it.
The invention therefore sets out to protect:

the coupon in itself, as this coupon always entails a financial exchange value; the coupon therefore is protected with security elements usually used in bank notes, cheques and the like to prevent falsification of said coupon and thereby obtain the afore-mentioned recompenses by sticking a false coupon to the document that gives rise to the recompense,
the recompense of the original product or document, preventing both this recompense being obtained and, in addition, the product or document being able to be sold for its whole value (that is, without entitlement to the recompense, thereby obtaining a double benefit):
- a false label is stuck to the product (which is prevented with the main layer safety elements)
- the product or document is delivered without the label and this fact goes unnoticed (which is prevented by the security elements present in the layer that remains stuck to the product),
and the actual product or document, to the extent that the different layers contain safety elements that guarantee the authenticity, the origin and/or the monitoring of said product or document.

The main layer uses an adhesive of the so-called permanent type. Therefore, and as is its purpose, the perfect adhesion of said layer to the document by which the recompense will be obtained is assured. Likewise, it prevents any possibility of this layer from being detached accidentally from the product or document on which it is placed originally. On one-sided removable labels with non-permanent adhesives it is not possible assure either of the two foregoing circumstances.
A security label is described in the international PCT publication WO 98/52178 , which includes a label liner having a first adhesive layer and a piggy-back label removably secured to said liner by a second adhesive layer.
Another security label of this kind is known from european patent EP-0 611 055 .

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The removable security identification label that the invention proposes provides a fully satisfactory solution to the above-described problems, as in itself it successfully constitutes an element which, when added to a product or service, offers a highly secure product through having intrinsic built-in security elements, while it also succeeds in having a monetary value as if it were a coupon exchangeable for money or for a given service.
To this end, and more specifically the label being advocated here, in its simplest embodiment version, is composed of a strip of paper provided on its rear side with a layer of adhesive (main layer) stuck to a second layer, of siliconized paper, also with another layer of adhesive on the side opposite to where the first layer is stuck, while the whole assemblage is completed with a strip of siliconized paper to protect this final layer of adhesive.
This second self-adhesive layer may be transparent or not, so that the print on the rear side of the strip which acts as a base may or may not be visible through it. The printing, which may or may not be security type, is done on the rear side of this secondary layer prior to application of the adhesive, so this printing forms part of the manufacturing process of the invention.
In the simplest case in which there is a single second label (main layer) this, as has been mentioned before, may be a conventional label with a strong adhesive (also called permanent), which shall be suitable for including items that may or may not be related to those appearing on the back of the strip that acts as the base, as well as any authenticity or security identifying element. Said self-adhesive label thereby becomes a kind of proof of identification or even a coupon with monetary value, which is easily removed from the siliconized strip to which it is stuck (secondary layer) and may then be stuck on the element we wish to monitor, inventory, etc., linking it to that other element on which the base label was stuck.
In one embodiment version, between the middle adhesive label formed by siliconized paper, on which one of its sides, more specifically on the one bearing the glue and between which the security message is printed, there may be various adhesive labels of such characteristics of a similar nature that they may be suitable for use as proof of identification or coupons of monetary value, at intermediate stages of use of the product or article identified.
The fact that the message on the secondary layer or layers is printed on the rear side(s) and prior to the application of the adhesive assures the practical impossibility of said print message being altered without there being clear evidence of tampering, while at the same time it protects the printing against other possible external aggressions. This feature in itself represents a security element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To supplement the description being given and in order to assist clearer understanding of the features of the invention, in accordance with a preferred example of practical embodiment of same, this description is accompanied, as an integral part hereof, by a set of drawings wherein, for merely informative but in no way restrictive purposes, the following has been represented:

Figure 1.- It shows a considerably enlarged, sectional, schematic representation of a removable security identification label produced in accordance with the invention, specifically in accordance with the simplest embodiment foreseen therefor.
Figure 2.- It shows, according to a representation similar to that of the previous figure, the second version of the security label, with additional intermediate layers.
Figure 3.- It shows a plan view of either of the labels of the foregoing figures.
Figure 4.- It shows, lastly, the printed text on the back of the second layer, which is legible when the main label has been detached, in a simple plan view of the secondary layer, which remains attached to the product.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In the light of the figures described and especially figure 1, it may be observed that the security label proposed by the invention in its simplest version is composed, as is conventional, of a strip of paper (10), the aforesaid main layer, of suitable dimensions and the carrier on its outer face of the identification details of the object or product (2), such as those mentioned above corresponding to the maker's name, the name of the product, price, reference number, bar code (fixed or variable, linear or two-dimensional, etc.), etc., which are referenced globally as (2) in figures 1 and 3, being able to include any other type of security item, as for instance encoded printing (3), ultraviolet printing (4),m microtexts, (5), security backgrounds based on fine line designs, etc., depending on the degree of security sought, a strip of paper (10) which, as is conventional, includes on its rear side a layer of strong adhesive (9) for its attachment to the object in question, glued on a strip of siliconized paper (10) and adhesive (9), siliconized paper (1) which bears a printed message (8) that may or may not be visible through the siliconized paper (1) and/or the paper of strip (10), said printing being protected by means of the addition of a layer of strong adhesive (6) which protects the message printed on this siliconized paper (1) from possible tampering and assures the adhesion of the siliconized paper (1). This label may be removed easily from the classic siliconized protection layer or strip (7) leaving this strip (1) united to the printed message (8) and adhesive (6), for the attachment of the assemblage (multi-layer identification label) formed of the strips (1 and 10) to the product.
This assemblage is completed with the corresponding class siliconized protection layer (7), removable at the time of its attachment.
In these conditions and given the permanent nature of the layer of adhesive (9), when an attempt is made to detach the strip proper (10 and 1), this adhesive (9 and 6) remains wholly or mainly attached to the product or document to which the label is affixed and to the object to be identified, and in such detachment of the labels the undue tampering with said labels may be observed and it is clearly revealed that the product or service is not original.
In accordance with the representation shown in figure 2, the strip of paper (10) carrying the identification details of the object or product and which can bear printed security messages may consist of a strip of paper which, by means of the respective layer of adhesive (9) is affixable to another strip (1), which may or may not be transparent, so as to enable the information or printed message (8) to be seen, and made of silconed paper, which facilitates the detachment of the information-carrier strip (10), so that this strip (1) assists the removal of the rest of the label as a whole. This strip (1) may include a printed security message (8) that may or may not be visible through strip (1) and/or (10), said printed message being protected by the layer of adhesive (6) and by the actual strip (1), which prevents tampering with the printed message (8).
This adhesive strip (1) may be repeated as many times as necessary with the addition of successive adhered strips (1') with printed messages (8') and layers of adhesives (6'), being finally completed with a layer of siliconized paper (7), which protects the final adhesive (6') before the whole label assemblage is affixed to the end product to be identified.
The base strip (10) with its corresponding printed security message on the front thereby becomes a proof of identification or even a coupon with a monetary value on the basis of which a quantitative value is going to be obtained, which may reflect a monetary amount, as mentioned, or a value equivalent to it.

Claims

Removable security identification label comprising: a strip of paper (10) bearing identification details (2) of a given object or product, a layer of permanent adhesive (9) which is provided on the rear side of the strip of paper (10), a strip of protective siliconized paper (7), the said label being characterised in that the strip of paper (10) is provided with printed security messages (3,4,5) on it and in that between the strip (10) and the protective siliconized paper (7) it incorporates at least one transparent intermediate strip (1) which is provided on its rear side with a layer of adhesive (6) wherein an intermediate message (8) is printed between said intermediate strip (1) and the layer of adhesive (6), the said intermediate strip (1) is bearing identification details of the same object or product.
Removable security identification label, according to claim 1 characterised in that the strip (1) is a strip of siliconized paper.
Removable security identification label, according to claims 1 or 2, characterised in that the strip (10) is transparent.
Removable security identification label, according to claim 1 characterised in that the security item is selected from the group: encoding printing (3), ultraviolet printing (4), microtexts (5), or security backgrounds based on fine line designs.
Removable security identification label, according to any of the preceding claims characterised in that the strip (1) includes security elements.