What we do
How we work
Four lines of service
From reports prepared for use in legal proceedings to trademark protection: fakes, and products sold outside the official distribution network.
Forensic expert reports
Checking product, packaging, labels and batch codes for conformity with the original, across three levels of analysis.
The core of the laboratory: photographic recording of the sample, a laboratory check beside genuine reference items (L2) and, where the case calls for it, chemical analysis with a gas chromatograph (L3). The method applied is described in the report; in judicial contexts, the expert report comes with a technical sheet stating the method, the comparisons performed, the instruments used and the identification of the samples. The laboratory check takes place in the expert's laboratory, which is not ISO/IEC 17025 accredited (a declared objective); the chemical analysis is carried out, under the expert's direction, at a third-party laboratory whose name and qualifications are stated in the report. The result is a numbered technical report, signed by a court-registered expert and prepared for use in legal proceedings: it establishes whether or not the product conforms to the reference samples and states the degree of certainty reached; the assessment rests with the judge.
Code of ethicsRead the Code of Ethics
What you receive
- Numbered and signed technical report
- Complete photographic record of the sample
- Chain-of-custody record
- Comparative chromatogram (level L3), with the name and qualifications of the laboratory that carried out the analysis
- Unique report code (public register and QR code still being set up)
Specialist training
Specialist training activities and programmes for law enforcement, customs officers and institutional bodies, as well as companies and retail.
A fake is caught on the dock long before it reaches a laboratory. The training works on real samples, genuine and counterfeit, used within authorised limits and never the subject of an expert report, and teaches the signals that separate a genuine item from a counterfeit: glass finishing, collar tolerances, label typography, batch code consistency, how the cellophane behaves.
What you receive
- Modules of 4, 8 or 16 hours
- Genuine and counterfeit samples shown in the classroom, never the subject of an expert report and kept in the laboratory's custody
- Quick-reference field cards
- Attestation of attendance
Investigative support
Assistance during seizures, comparisons and reports supporting an investigation.
Technical support as a judicial police auxiliary, where formally appointed: evidence recording, sample selection, preliminary assessment of the products, quantitative estimate and technical minutes. The expert's twenty years of experience, on assignments from institutions and law enforcement, have produced a working practice shaped by the timing and demands of a seizure.
What you receive
- Attendance at the seizure
- Batch triage and sample selection
- Preliminary technical report within the time agreed with the authority conducting the proceedings
- Technical consultancy or expert report when appointed by the authority (arts. 359 and 220 Italian Code of Criminal Procedure)
Brand consultancy
Trademark protection, parallel-market monitoring and due diligence; analysis of testers and ‘inspired by’ perfumes (dupes); technical analysis of possible infringements of trademark rights (Italian Industrial Property Code, d.lgs. 30/2005), acts of unfair competition (art. 2598 c.c., Italian Civil Code) and misleading advertising or unlawful comparative advertising (d.lgs. 145/2007, Italian Legislative Decree), for legal counsel to assess.
For maisons and distributors, we follow the product outside the official distribution network: the parallel market, marketplaces and social platforms, suppliers and stock, testers and ‘inspired by’ perfumes (dupes), each of which may or may not be lawful; the assessment rests with legal counsel and, in court, with the judge. Every test purchase follows the chain of custody and goes into a technical dossier for legal counsel.
What you receive
- Parallel-market mapping, product by product
- Test purchases, logged as exhibits
- Due diligence on retailers
- Analysis of testers and dupes, and advice on their possible regulatory breaches
- Technical analysis of possible trademark infringement, unfair competition or misleading advertising
- Dossier for law firms
- Party-appointed technical consultancy in and out of court, throughout Italy
Note · social initiatives
Education on legality and training: programmes in schools, with the participation of law enforcement, brands and trade associations where agreements provide for it.
Areas of work
Where Forensis Lab steps in
- 01Phenomenology of counterfeiting in beauty
- 02Analysis of distribution channels and the parallel market
- 03Analysis of how testers and not-for-sale products circulate in parallel channels, distinguishing what is lawful from breaches of contract and unlawful acts
- 04Consultancy on dupe markets and on misleading advertising or unlawful comparative advertising
- 05Reading the packaging
- 06Evidence recording and sampling
- 07Protection for online purchases and social commerce
- 08Assistance to websites in product disputes
- 09Photo pre-analysis for consumers (Forensis Lab Verify™, coming soon)
- 10Practical signs for spotting a fake
- 11Party-appointed technical consultancy in and out of court, throughout Italy
Economic damage
Estimating the damage
The estimate of economic damage is prepared with law firms and forensic economists named in the document, on the basis of verifiable data and declared assumptions.
Who we work with
In service of the anti-counterfeiting system
01
Law enforcement
Judicial police: technical support as an auxiliary, where formally appointed, from seizure to technical report.
02
Customs and institutions
Technical consultancy, comparisons and reports prepared for the proceedings.
03
Companies and brands
Parallel-market monitoring, due diligence and trademark protection, including in and out of court, throughout Italy.
04
Consumers
The expert report on the bottle: a laboratory check and, only if needed, chemical analysis. Coming soon: Forensis Lab Verify™, the pre-analysis of the photos.
05
Schools
Education programmes on legality in schools, with the participation of law enforcement, brands and trade associations where agreements provide for it.