In 2004, counterfeit products accounted for some 7 percent of world trade—a market volume of $500 billion. Many companies use holograms, watermarks and other technology to try to thwart counterfeiters, but these techniques are either unsuitable for automated tests of product authenticity or do not provide the required level of security. The EPCglobal Network, conceived as a means of sharing EPC data among supply chain partners, could help solve the counterfeiting problem by enabling companies to quickly and automatically authenticate unique items.