A look alike of the classic Octo pendant by Secto Design but something isn't quite right. The shape? Proportions? The bulb sticking out in a funny way? When feeling the material, it is something light and hollow, some sort of wood, maybe bamboo. Poorly finished details shock the eye when looked closer. No certainty of safety of the electrical parts nor about the origin of the creation. Considering a copy instead of original?
We are joining the battlefront with several design companies who struggle with the same issue: copies. We here at Secto Design take the protection of intellectual property rights seriously.
Replica jungle
New cases appear weekly, from all around the world. What is worrying is the fact that they are not just poorly made shades from China anymore, but some of them are also made in Europe and look a lot alike the originals. The shapes are similar, the material is more and more often wood, and the price levels are getting closer to the original's price point. Fake ones are being promoted with images of real ones.
Consumers struggle to find the authentic product in the jungle of replicas. A concerning phenomenon is that even big global companies consciously choose fakes to their projects instead of the real ones. This is why we need to step out!
Fight for the originals!
We have put a lot of time and money into the protection of the design of our lamps and to the actual fight against the copies.
We own and control all the intellectual property right of the designs of the products. We regularly send out warning letters worldwide to various stores displaying and selling copies of our lamps. We check global online shops and have already dropped down over a hundred of copies whenever spotted. In addition, there is a law firm that steps in in the more complicated cases. The work is very time and money consuming, but with the help of our lawyers and their global attorney network we have successfully solved over 60 cases.
Hard work pays off
It is rewarding to also receive good news regularly. To share a couple of recent ones with you:
- Copies were trying to enter Norway but there was a conscious customs official who spotted them, reported the findings to us and in the end the products never got any further than that but got destroyed at the border instead.
- A Finnish blogger wrote about copies of our lamps she saw on a bigger department store's catalogue and got hundreds of supporting comments to her post. In the end we together made the big company pull out the copies from the coming season's collection!
- There was an infringement in the Netherlands where we got a judgment from the District Court of the Hague stating that our products are unique and won the case
- More and more stores pull down the copies when they receive our warning letters
- Fake lamps are removed from fair stands
- Factories stop making replicas after a raid carried out by the local authorities in China
Just as important as the actions above is bringing up the issue and spreading the word around. For our Finnish readers, please see the video clip on the Finnish morning tv called Ylen aamu-tv where our CEO Emma Frenzel was speaking about the importance of IPR.
Thank you for the support!
What makes us positive is the strong support group we have around us. Frequently, we get contacts from both private clients as well as our partners and colleague companies bringing the copies they have spotted to our attention. This is a huge help to us and we appreciate this type of action greatly. Another delightful subject is that people get in touch with us as they want to be sure they are buying an original. It truly matters! We feel that customers are more and more educated and conscious of the products they buy. They want to know the product.
Why buy the authentic one
It is not often thought but very important to bear in mind that by choosing a fake lamp one simultaneously chooses to support organized criminal action!
Only by buying an authentic Secto Design light can one be sure the product has the original design where all the details are top-notch, resulting from several years of designer Seppo Koho's work as well as product development. One can be sure the product has been locally hand-crafted in a well maintained clean and safe factory by professional adult Finnish carpenters. Only by choosing an authentic Secto Design light can one be sure it is 100% safe to use, made of top-quality PEFC-certified Finnish birch and will last for years.
