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Several years back, one of our investigations resulted in the seizure of several thousand counterfeit products. After reviewing the products to ensure they were counterfeit, the police packed them up and transferred them to the prosecutor’s office for safekeeping. That same afternoon, one of our investigators was visiting the courthouse for an unrelated issue and… Continue reading Corruption, a threat to IP Investigations

There is a first time for everything in life. The first time you walk. The first words that you utter. Your first day of school. The first time you fall in love. And the first time someone points a gun at you.   The first time that I ever had a gun pointed at me… Continue reading First Time

I was born in Massachussets, but moved around quite a bit. By the time I turned 18, I had lived in Boston, Denver, Argentina, Venezuela and Mexico. By the time I hit 30, I added Bolivia, Peru, Panama, Georgia, Texas and Miami to the list, not to mention an additional 20 or so countries to… Continue reading Everybody has a story to tell. This is a bit of mine

One of our clients had received an anonymous email identifying an individual who was counterfeiting their products. The email included a great deal of detailed information, including how the counterfeiter stacked his money within shoe boxes that he left on the back portion of an upper shelf in his closet – details that only someone… Continue reading Former lovers and spouses make the best informants

I spent 15 years with the DEA without ever having been in the line of fire. I can’t say the same thing for my work with the private sector.    I was working with local law enforcement on behalf of one of our company’s clients on an operation against 64 targets selling counterfeit electrical parts… Continue reading A bit too much adrenaline for a counterfeit case

We were conducting an investigation for one of our clients on counterfeit laptop power supplies. The chargers were being brought in from China without markings and sold over the Internet after counterfeit trademarks and labels were affixed. We made several purchases online, and each time the power supplies were sent via courier, with a return… Continue reading From Trash to Gold

One of my favorite cases, where surveillance was key to the seizure, happened to be one of the most tedious assignments as well. For years, we had been hearing stories about a cargo aircraft flying directly from China to the international airport of a Latin American capital city. As the story went, the plane would… Continue reading The Illusive China Connection

We were investigating a company in a Central American country that was counterfeiting our client’s products. We had located the counterfeiters’ warehouse and discovered they also operated a small store in the building. As a standard tactic, we decided to make a test purchase and sent two of our investigators – one to make the… Continue reading Who says that IP investigations are not dangerous?

While surveillance can be a wonderful tool for identifying counterfeiters, it is not always a walk in the park. There are times when no proper vantage point can be identified, and other times where it is simply dangerous to attempt.   In one case, we had made an online purchase of a counterfeit item for… Continue reading Surveillance can be a wonderful tool, but should not always be deployed

We had been working an investigation for several months, identifying retail locations, suppliers, distributors and warehouses of a particular group of counterfeiters. When we had documented all of the pieces of the organization, including solid evidence of their counterfeiting activities, we presented the case to the prosecutor with a request for enforcement actions.   Having… Continue reading A little insurance never hurt anyone…