Class Characteristics of Counterfeit Protection System Codes of Color Laser Copiers

As the quality of the color laser copiers increased at the end of the 1980s, it became apparent that they could be used to produce credible copies of important documents. In an effort to stop their use as a counterfeiting tool, changes were made to the machines to prevent the copying of important documents as well as to identify the color laser copier used to make the copy through the inclusion of a code on each color laser copy. Submitting the copies to the U.S. Secret Service Laboratory can allow for decoding to identify the make, model, and serial number of the copier used. However, by studying the code present on a color laser copy, a forensic document examiner may determine the possible manufacturer of the color laser copier used to produce the copy which may be useful as investigative information. Also, the forensic document examiner can identify a color laser copier as the one used to produce questioned copies if the questioned copies display the same code as produced by the known color laser copier.