The use of nanotechnology to 'protect' brands 

The problem with many security measures, such as holograms, is that the better resourced counterfeiters have the technology to, er, counterfeit them.

Enter the emerging world of nanotechnology which may allow brand owners to hide authenticating information 'invisibly'.  Apart from providing an invisible fingerprint, the technology may help brand owners track which of their distributors are diverting product to pesky parallel importers and even become mandated by regulatory bodies to ensure that each pill or bottle comes with its own 'pedigree' ... 

Sounds like science fiction, but much much closer than we might think.

See Rebecca Roberts on the 'Role of nanotechnology in brand protection'

The key to designing a good brand-protection technology is to make it easy for brand owners and their investigators to identify genuine goods, while making it very difficult for counterfeiters and crooks to know how that is being done. Nanotechnology can provide such a solution. Using nanotechnology, companies can now apply covert information, such as batch information, directly onto products and packaging. They can, for example, encrypt nanoscale codes onto pharmaceutical pills for tracking and tracing. They can also create nano bar codes, which are invisible bar codes that are technologically complex but can be used to easily authenticate products and packaging. Many more significant advances in nanotechnology are on the way, and the possibilities are almost endless.

here.

Lid dip: Marty Schwimmer.