This differs from DRM in a fundamental way, namely that you are not required to do this. You can choose to ignore it if it turns out the object isn't authentic. Whereas DRM relies on making you enforce certain rules, and putting technological or legal barriers in your way to prevent you from breaking them.

But some hard-to-clone and viable-to-read tagging technologies can be very useful for purposes like authenticating genuine product (which consumers are starting to care about), for tracing graymarket items (sold in contract-violating ways, which some international brands care about), and for disrupting retail theft rings.

There's also engagement angles that a lot of brands want to add to the tech investment. (And there may also cost be savings/consolidation opportunities with packaging costs, and it can involve the industrial design, and affect branding, and involve manufacturing, and distribution, and retail, and multiple IT integrations, and field operatives. Which is how your enterprise sales meetings get 10x more stakeholders than the person charged with reducing counterfeiting.)

(I worked on applications of hard-to-clone tags a few years ago. Unfortunately, our startup launched its first factory integration just as Covid hit the US, which meant that investors and customers understandably both got skittish about the near future, we ran out of runway, and our talent scattered to the winds.)

The ability to prove the origin of something over "Source: dude trust me bro" is critical to a great number of people.

But sure, let's stick with "yeah nah, this piece of paper says what's in the box is in the box so it must be legit" because FOSS is gonna get salty about this.