Marijuana Business Magazine April 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | April 2019 98 However, that likely will work only in North America, both Lee and Kogan cautioned. Pursuing an intellectual property or trademark claim against a Chinese manufacturer, regardless of how guilty that company may be, is likely to prove a waste of time and money. “To go after China … you need to be a major, major company. Most pot companies don’t have the (resources) to tackle an international trademark violation. That’s the realm of Vogue and Fendi,” Kogan said. Get Custom, Hard-to-Imitate Packaging This is where Scheir’s company, AuthentiBrand, comes in. He specializes in holograms for companies that peddle goods such as sports memorabilia that are often counterfeited, and he’s already helped numerous high-profile cannabis companies, including infused product producer Flav, combat piracy with holograms on their packaging for vapes, edibles and other products. “Flav uses our most sophisticated technology labels on their California packaging, and from what I understand, they have helped tremendously in com- bating counterfeiters,” Scheir said, add- ing that Flav, which counts vapes among its offerings, had previously found counterfeited versions of its products in multiple states, just as some California businesses say theirs are popping up all over the country. AuthentiBrand is just one exam- ple of a company that specializes in anti-piracy technology, but Scheir said he’s eager to make more inroads into the cannabis space as the industry continues to grow and counterfeiting becomes a bigger issue. His company’s holograms also can involve QR codes for extra security, and there are further security measures that can also be built in for a cost. “By putting our holograms on every package they put out, a brand owner is able to say, ‘What is in this package is what we say it is, because the highly sophisticated holograms prove the product is the real deal,’” Scheir said. After a $1,500 setup cost, AuthentiBrand’s custom security work “can range from $50 to $5,000, depending on what we do,” Scheir said, adding that the cost goes down the more packages a customer orders. “In this industry, the reality is the cost of the hologram is the lowest cost of the things they have to do to get that product to market,” Scheir said. “On the other end, it can be a nickel or less if the quantities are high enough.” Countering the Counterfeiters Flav packaging includes a tamper-evident hologram seal and QR code from AuthentiBrand. Courtesy Photo