Intellectual Property Rights – Ground Breaking Victory for Arora Design Ltd
Husband and wife team Andy and Debbie Waters have been tackling the copiers head on, catching them red handed on their home turf in mainland China and Hong Kong. Using the Design Registration Certificates they have deposited with the UK Giftware Association, and other relevant documentation, they have had four monumental victories at recent overseas trade shows.
Whilst exhibiting at Mega Show One, hosted by Kenfair in Hong Kong, not only did Arora have a very profitable show, but they also successfully defended their copyright on one of their major UK designed brands ‘Hidden Treasures’. The ‘Waters’ then moved on to Canton Fair in mainland China, where they discovered that a number of their ‘Little Paws’ and ‘Pets with Personality’ were under attack. Driven by their previous success another copyright challenge was mounted and was successfully upheld.
Following the filing of IP complaints at both the shows with the fair organisers, the offending companies were suitably embarrassed by visits from the show solicitors, who removed the illegally copied product from their stands whilst the show was open to visitors.
“We have returned from our trip triumphant,” say’s Chairman Andy Waters. “A great result in what have historically been very difficult market places to get your voice heard on this subject.”
He continued: “The results we have achieved have given us a new found confidence in defending our copyright, and we have no intention of taking our foot off the gas now that we are back home. We will be pursuing the offending companies legally, and have our network of overseas distributors with their eyes peeled for any product that may turn up in their individual market places.
“Our brands are our passion, and we will not stand by and let all our hard work and initiative in coming up with our own designs, be abused by copiers who cannot think for themselves. We are determined to deliver the message that riding on the back of our UK designed product is not an option, and there are shaming consequences at trade shows that these companies have had to deal with.
“Covering all of the halls of a show of the magnitude of Canton Fair with just two pairs of eyes is almost an impossibility, so we would like to thank a couple of our overseas distributors, and also another UK Giftware Company for providing us with tip offs.”
Isabel Martinson, Chief Executive of The Giftware Association, was delighted to hear that the association’s Copywatch service was able to support the Waters’ case. “The Giftware Association’s Design Deposit scheme within the Copywatch service provides members with an audit trail and third party evidence to help them prove when they came up with their designs. While The GA’s Design Deposit scheme is not a formal registration and it cannot guarantee design rights if they don’t exist in a product, this case demonstrates the significant value of having such evidence when fighting copiers.”
As Andy Waters concluded: “This sends a clear message to the copiers, that it is not just Arora Design who are watching them.”
[Pictured is Fergus from Arora’s ‘Little Paws’ range. Just one of a number of copied products]
www.arora-design.co.uk
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