An Executive Voices Blog by Relani Belous, Founder of The Trademark Channel

Counterfeiting has always evolved alongside innovation. As supply chains globalized and eCommerce accelerated, bad actors adapted quickly and found new ways to copy, distribute, and profit from intellectual property.

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) represents the next major inflection point. It is simultaneously one of the most powerful tools available to brand owners and one of the most sophisticated weapons in the hands of counterfeiters.

For licensors, licensees, and brand owners, understanding how AI is reshaping anti-counterfeiting efforts is no longer optional. It is foundational to protecting brand value in a digital-first marketplace where speed, scale, and complexity continue to increase.

How AI Is Being Used to Fight Counterfeiting

AI is increasingly deployed to identify counterfeit activity earlier, faster, and at far greater scale than traditional enforcement methods. Machine learning systems can analyze millions of online listings, images, and transactional data to detect anomalies and patterns that human teams could never manage alone.

One of the most promising developments is optical AI fingerprinting. Technologies such as those developed by Alitheon use AI to capture unique surface microfeatures of physical items, including machining marks, brush strokes, and manufacturing variations. These details are used to create a digital twin of the product, allowing authenticity to be verified without tags, barcodes, or embedded chips. This approach is already being applied in aerospace, luxury goods, and the art world, where physical integrity and provenance are essential.

Unlike traditional authentication methods, optical fingerprinting does not rely on added identifiers that can be removed, replicated, or damaged. Instead, it treats each object as inherently unique. For brand owners, this represents a shift from layered security features to intrinsic authentication, reducing reliance on external markers that counterfeiters have historically learned to copy.

AI is also being used extensively to monitor online marketplaces. Image recognition and natural language processing tools scan eCommerce platforms continuously, flagging suspicious listings based on logo usage, pricing anomalies, product descriptions, and seller behavior. Solutions such as Red Points exemplify how AI can connect signals across platforms, helping brands move beyond isolated takedowns toward more strategic enforcement.

The real advantage of these systems lies in pattern recognition. AI does not simply identify individual infringements. It connects activity across sellers, platforms, and geographies, enabling brand owners to anticipate risk rather than react to it.

Tracing Authenticity Through the Supply Chain

Beyond online enforcement, AI is also playing an increasingly important role in protecting products before they reach consumers. In the fashion and textiles sector, supply chain transparency has become both a commercial and regulatory priority.

Companies like Haelixa use inorganic DNA markers embedded directly into cotton or fabric at the source. These markers are invisible, durable, and uniquely identifiable. AI software can read them at any point in the supply chain, verifying authenticity and origin from raw material to finished product.

Luxury and sustainability brands have adopted this approach to combat counterfeiting while also supporting claims related to ethical sourcing and traceability. For licensing partners, this level of verification strengthens trust across complex global networks and reduces exposure to reputational risk.

As consumer expectations around transparency grow, AI-enabled traceability is likely to become a baseline requirement rather than a differentiator.

Counterfeiting in High Risk and Mission Critical Industries

In electronics and technology sectors, counterfeiting poses risks that go well beyond brand dilution. Fake or tampered components can compromise safety, performance, and even national security.

Cybord AI addresses this challenge by using artificial intelligence to inspect electronic components at the micro level before they are installed on circuit boards. By analyzing internal structures rather than surface features alone, AI can detect counterfeit or altered components that traditional inspections might miss.

This type of inspection is increasingly critical in industries such as aerospace, medical devices, and infrastructure, where failure is not an option. As products become more complex and supply chains more fragmented, AI-driven inspection is becoming essential to protecting both brands and end users.

How Bad Actors Are Using AI

At the same time, counterfeiters are adopting AI to increase their own sophistication. Generative AI tools can produce highly convincing product images, packaging designs, and marketing materials that closely resemble authentic brands. These assets can be generated quickly, localized for different markets, and adjusted to evade detection.

Deepfake technology adds another layer of risk. Counterfeiters can fabricate endorsements, create fake unboxing videos, or impersonate brand representatives on social platforms. These tactics blur the line between authentic and fraudulent content, making enforcement more challenging.

AI also enables scale. Automated systems can generate thousands of listings, rotate seller identities, and shift activity across platforms rapidly. In some cases, bad actors use AI to reverse engineer product features or anticipate enforcement thresholds.

This dynamic makes one reality clear. AI does not eliminate counterfeiting. It accelerates an arms race where both protection and infringement evolve simultaneously.

A Fragmented and Evolving Legal Landscape

Legal frameworks governing AI are developing unevenly across jurisdictions. The European Union is advancing comprehensive regulation focused on transparency, accountability, and risk classification. These rules will influence how AI-driven enforcement tools are deployed and how evidence generated by algorithms is evaluated.

In contrast, the United States continues to rely on a more fragmented approach, with evolving guidance rather than a single regulatory framework. Jurisdictions across Asia are developing AI policies shaped by local priorities around innovation, security, and data governance.

For IP owners and licensing partners, this patchwork creates complexity. Enforcement strategies must remain adaptable across borders and AI generated evidence must meet differing legal standards. Understanding these regulatory shifts will be critical to long-term brand protection strategies.

AI Training and the Use of Brand Content

Another growing concern is how AI systems are trained. Many models rely on large datasets scraped from the internet, often without clear consent from rights holders. Logos, designs, characters, and creative assets may be incorporated into training data in ways that raise unresolved legal questions.

Brand owners should assume their content is already part of this ecosystem. Practical steps include auditing where brand assets appear online, updating licensing agreements to address AI usage explicitly, and monitoring emerging case law in key markets.

Clear brand guidelines and consistent enforcement remain essential while legal standards continue to evolve.

What Brand Owners Should Focus on Next

As AI becomes embedded in both counterfeiting and enforcement, brand owners should focus on integration, collaboration, and foresight. AI tools are most effective when embedded within a broader brand protection strategy that aligns legal, licensing, and commercial teams.

No brand can address these challenges alone. Strong partnerships with platforms, industry groups, and enforcement authorities are increasingly essential. Most importantly, brand owners must take a long-term view. AI will continue to evolve faster than regulation.

Artificial intelligence is not a silver bullet; it is a powerful instrument within a complex ecosystem. Used thoughtfully, it can shift anti-counterfeiting from reaction to strategy. Ignored, it risks accelerating the very threats brands are trying to stop.

Relani Belous is the founder of The Trademark Channel, a digital platform dedicated to demystifying intellectual property, brand protection, and licensing strategy for entrepreneurs, creatives, and professionals. She also leads Belous Law Corporation and previously served as General Counsel to Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment.

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