Counterfeiting is a high-volume, high-profit business that has become a global phenomenon, affecting individuals in small villages and large cities, as well as big industries and pharmaceutical companies. It poses health risks for citizens, lost revenue for businesses, brand damage and decreased public confidence. An estimated 7 to 10 percent of all goods sold worldwide in 2007 were counterfeit, at a cost of approximately US$590 billion. Counterfeiters are usually able to copy most anti-counterfeiting technologies within 18 months. Nanotechnology-based developments that produce non-reproducible technological features are expected to offer a significant step toward preventing illicit copying of intellectual property and products. Current anti-counterfeiting technologies include holograms, tamper-evident closures, tags and markings, and RFID labels – all of which can eventually be copied. Innovations in nanomaterials can give items complex and unique “fingerprints”, resulting in the development of new approaches to tackling counterfeiting, as well as improvement of existing techniques. This briefing paper discusses the different types of nanotechnology-enhanced anti-counterfeiting measures, but cautions that these methods should be developed in a “…responsible, sustainable way, and efforts are needed to let those in developing countries share the benefits.”