Printing method and copy-evident secure document

Claim 2

A copy evident document which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprised of: a document substrate having a surface; a composite design on said surface comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design; said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel printed lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the image warning design difficult to distinguish from the background design on casual inspection of the document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the composite design, thereby making the image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the document.

Claim 3

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 4

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 5

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 6

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 7

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the composite design have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 8

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 9

A document as set forth in claim 1, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.

Claim 10

A copy-evident document which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprised of: a document substrate having a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel printed lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of at least one of such composite designs being aligned 90° out of phase with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs further being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the background designs on casual inspection of the document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the composite designs, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the document.

Claim 11

A copy-evident document which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprised of: a document substrate having a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel printed lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of at least one of such composite designs being aligned 90° out of phase with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs further being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the background designs on casual inspection of the document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the composite designs, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the document.

Claim 12

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 13

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 14

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 15

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 16

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the composite design have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 17

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 18

A document as set forth in claim 9, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.

Claim 19

A copy-evident document which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprised of: a document substrate having a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design; said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel printed lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, the lines of at least one composite design being aligned at an angle with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the background designs on casual inspection of the document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the document.

Claim 20

A copy-evident document which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprised of: a document substrate having a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design; said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel printed lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, the lines of at least one composite design being aligned at an angle with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the background designs on casual inspection of the document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the document.

Claim 21

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 22

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 23

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of at least one image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 24

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of at least one image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 25

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 26

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 27

A document as set forth in claim 17, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.

Claim 28

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; at least one composite design on said surface comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning design difficult to distinguish from the resulting background design on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making the image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 29

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied results in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; at least one composite design on said surface comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning design difficult to distinguish from the resulting background design on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making the image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 30

A master as set forth in claim 25, wherein the master is an intaglio plate.

Claim 31

A plate as set forth in claim 26, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 32

A plate as set forth in claim 26, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 33

A master as set forth in claim 25 wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 34

A master as set forth in claim 25, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 35

A master as set forth in claim 25, wherein the lines of the composite design have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 36

A master as set forth in claim 25, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 37

A master as set forth in claim 25, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.

Claim 38

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied result in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of at least one of such composite designs being aligned 90° out of phase with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs further being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the resulting background designs on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 39

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied result in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design, said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, said lines of at least one of such composite designs being aligned 90° out of phase with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs further being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the resulting background designs on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 40

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the master is an intaglio plate.

Claim 41

A plate as set forth in claim 35, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 42

A plate as set forth in claim 35, wherein the lines of the composite design have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 43

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 44

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the lines of the image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 45

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the lines of the composite design have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 46

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 47

A master as set forth in claim 34, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.

Claim 48

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied result in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design; said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, the lines of at least one composite design being aligned at an angle with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the resulting background designs on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 49

A master for producing copy-evident documents which when copied result in a copy with a readily visually perceptible warning indicia that the copy is not an original document comprising: a surface; a plurality of composite designs on said surface, each composite design comprised of an image warning design bordered by a background design; said image warning design and said background design are each comprised of generally parallel lines of approximately equal width and depth on said surface with the lines of said image warning design being offset at an angle to the lines of said background design, the lines of at least one composite design being aligned at an angle with respect to the corresponding lines of another composite design, said lines of said designs being sufficiently fine in pitch and width so as to make the resulting image warning designs difficult to distinguish from the resulting background designs on casual inspection of the resulting document with the naked eye while at the same time exploiting a photocopier's or facsimile machine's inability to accurately resolve the resulting composite design, thereby making at least one image warning design appear readily apparent upon casual inspection of any copy of the resulting document.

Claim 50

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the master is an intaglio plate.

Claim 51

A plate as set forth in claim 44, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a depth of between approximately 0.001 and 0.005 inches.

Claim 52

A plate as set forth in claim 44, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a depth of 0.002 inches.

Claim 53

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the lines of at least one image design are angled between 10° and 175° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 54

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the lines of at least one image design are angled between 45° and 60° to the lines of the background design.

Claim 55

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the lines of the composite designs have a width of approximately 0.001 inches.

Claim 56

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of between 10 and 200 lines per inch.

Claim 57

A master as set forth in claim 43, wherein the lines of the composite design have a pitch of approximately 65 lines per inch.