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MI:33

MI:33

Protecting People and their Products™

  • About
  • Services
    • Trademark Investigation
    • Threat Mitigation
    • Due Diligence
    • Event Security
    • Test Purchases
    • Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
    • Litigation Support
  • Academic Citations
  • Landmark Cases
  • Media Mentions
  • Speaking Engagements

Test Purchases

Intellectual property
A listing proves nothing. A buy proves everything.

You need a test purchase when a listing looks fake, a seller undercuts your price, or your counsel needs proof a court respects. We buy the product under cover, document the sale, and preserve the goods and the paper trail. The seller never learns who is really buying. What comes back is evidence, ready to file.

Capabilities

What we do

Buy under cover

We order as an ordinary customer, from an identity aged for years and built to survive a hard look. Nothing on the order reveals a brand or an investigator. One unit proves a fake. A wholesale order proves volume and points to the warehouse behind the storefront.

Trace the source

We follow the payee, the shipping origin, and the return address to a real seller. From there we map the operators, the payment rails, and the supply chain feeding the goods, so your legal team knows whom to pursue and where.

Inspect the goods

We examine what arrives and compare against the genuine article. We confirm counterfeit, genuine, or a material difference before anyone acts. A false counterfeit claim against real goods counts against you, so we settle the question first.

Separate fakes from grey market

Some sellers move counterfeits. Others move your real product, bought through a real channel and sold below your price. The two demand different responses. We tell them apart and point your enforcement at the right target.

Preserve for court

We record every step from checkout to delivery and hold an unbroken chain of custody. When a listing comes down, your evidence stays intact. Your counsel files on a record built to survive challenge.

Method

From scope to filing

01
Scope

We scope the target, run a conflicts check, and agree on the proof your case needs. You stay clandestine. We act as your proxy.

02
Buy

We place the undercover order. One unit for proof, or a wholesale buy when you need to reach the source.

03
Preserve

We log the payee, the shipping origin, and the return address. We inspect the goods and lock the chain of custody.

04
Deliver

You receive the LitPak®, a court-ready PDF, exhibits organized for filing.

Track record

Behind landmark cases

Chloé v. TradeKey

Our year-long undercover investigation became the basis for the first online marketplace held liable for counterfeiting.

Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc

The first successful US suit to hold an internet service provider liable for counterfeiting. We were the investigators.

Chanel v. Dror Krispin

A published example of our web-forensics method behind an undercover buy.

The deliverable
The LitPak®

Every test purchase comes back as a LitPak®, our trademarked evidence package. A full-color, court-ready PDF with everything your legal team needs to file in federal court. Exhibits labeled. Sources reproducible.

The LitPak® has stood up across hundreds of federal cases.

Whether you are proving a fake, tracing a diverter, or building a case for a demand letter, a takedown, or a federal complaint, a principal handles your matter start to finish, in confidence.

Start a matter

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