Plagiarism
is an imitation of a product for the purpose of
economic exploitation. It is made either with slavish
accuracy or with minute changes. Especially perfidious
are more significant changes made so skilfully that
the casual observer interprets them into a visual
perception of the appearance of the original.
Forgery is the making
of an imitation in order to deceive people. The
purchaser is convinced that he has bought the original
from a reputable company. Forgery is a criminal
offence and is prosecuted as such (e.g. spare parts,
medicines, records, etc.)
Design pirates are
companies who have made imitation their marketing
concept. They sub-contract the production and very
quickly sell large quantities of imitation products.
Brand Piracy (trademark
exhaustion): There are countries where it is perfectly
legal for third parties to register brands that
are already registered in their country of origin.
This results in the situation where the actual owner
of the brand cannot sell his own products in that
country. In order not to be excluded from his legitimate
market, the owner of the original trade mark must
reach some kind of agreement with the brand pirate.
Something that usually is a very expensive undertaking
(e.g. Puma in Spain, Mercedes E-Type in France).
A replica was originally
the replication of a work by the master craftsman
(the second, third etc. version). Today a replica
is understood to be a new edition of an old product
design by the copyright owner or with his consent.
A replica must be clearly labelled as such.
