PLAGIARIUS-AWARD 2005
Initiated back in 1977 by Prof. Rido Busse, the
negative award "Plagiarius" serves to
inform the public – designers and enterprises
as well as politicians, legislators and not least
consumers - about the problem of fakes and plagiarism
and the negative impacts they have on the economy.
The award reveals the impudence and unscrupulousness
of the imitators. Due to a lack of their own creativity
and notably driven by greed they copy 1:1 innovative
ideas of others and pass the imitations off as their
own creative achievement. Aim of “Plagiarius”
is therefore to sensitize all parties affected for
a more conscious and critical way of dealing with
the topic of “original and plagiarism”.
Action Plagiarius gives the negative award at the
annual “Ambiente” trade fair during
a press conference. The award is given to those
companies that the jury has found guilty of making
"the most flagrant" design imitations.
As his key figure, Busse chose a gnome, which he
painted black with a gold nose to signify the “illicit
earnings from product imitation”.
The European Commission estimates that 7-10% of
world-wide commerce are fakes and plagiarisms and
that copying products causes worldwide economic
losses of $200 to $300 billion as well as the loss
of 200,000 jobs each year. The figures are alarming
and have given the topic adequate seriousness. For
a long time the problem of brand and product piracy
has been considered as a peccadillo – now,
with these fast growing numbers plus the fact that
a correlation between product fakes and terrorism
has been revealed, it has become a major problem
that governments world-wide have to face.
Factors such as global competition, modern technologies
and increasingly short-lived products lead to shorter
and shorter product life cycles that hardly allow
the innovators to achieve their breakeven points.
Enterprises get under increasing pressure to create
new products, trends and outstanding experiences.
The moment these promising ideas are presented at
trade shows not only the necessary sales starts
but often in parallel the production of fakes and
plagiarisms is working flat out. Against this background
Action Plagiarius constantly points out the significance
of Intellectual Property Rights (IP Rights). Registered
IP Rights (technical patents, design patents, trademarks
etc.) allow designers, inventors and innovative
enterprises to recoup the investments made in Research,
Development and in Marketing. This return on investment
is an essential prerequisite for future investments
in the development of new products – new originals.
Only these will create progress, competition and
jobs.
Responsible for the disastrous extent of the problem
of brand and product piracy are not only the producers
– often from the far east – and the
distributors. The main person in charge is the originator
of the fakes and plagiarisms, who often is not an
asian company but rather the German, European or
American competitor of an innovative enterprise.
By giving the order for the cheap production of
specific products the originator intends to make
a bargain on Western markets. It is therefore crucial
to consider the total value chain and to control
every participant in the process and to call every
single one to account.
The last element of the value chain are the consumers.
Mostly they are betrayed into buying fakes or plagiarisms
unknowingly and promptly experience the negative
impacts of the inferior goods. As the imitators
often neglect any standards concerning quality,
ecology and safety, people’s health and even
life are in danger. Examples are medications without
any active substances, defective spare parts that
cause accidents, toys and textiles that are produced
with poisonous or allergy-causing colours or fibres,
electronic goods that are inflamable etc.
However, some consumers purchase imitations in the
full awareness that these are fakes or plagiarisms.
They put up with the fact that they will receive
a product of inferior quality plus that they damage
the image and ROI of the original producer. Most
popular are souvenirs bought in one’s holidays,
bargains from flee markets but also anonymous purchases
via the internet.
The consumers should be more critical, develop a
higher consciousness for quality and not base their
decisions on price only. If they would not show
any kind of interest in fakes or plagiarisms –
if there would be no demand at all – the incentive
for producing imitations would be much lower.
All parties involved are challenged to gain conrol
of the problem by adjusting their views and by initiating
anti-counterfeiting activities.
The
Jury of Plagiarius 2005:
Each year the jury is put together individually
with specialists from the sectors Design, Intellectual
Property, Economics, Media etc. The following persons
formed this years' jury:
Johannes Graf Esterházy
Director Brand Integrity, Western Europe,
Philip Morris International Management S.A., Lausanne,
Switzerland
Lisa Maria Franke
Managing Director, Bayern Design GmbH, Munich and
Nuremberg
Dr. Karlmann Geiss
Former President of the Federal Supreme Court (Karlsruhe),
Ulm
Manfred Kohnke
Chief Editor Gault Millau, Christian Verlag GmbH,
Munich
Dr. Rolf Schultz-Süchting
Lawyer, Chambers Schultz-Süchting, Hamburg
Antje Sedemund-Treiber
Former President of the Federal Patent Tribunale
(Munich), Wachtberg
Dr. Lutz van Raden
Judge at the Federal Patent Tribunale, Munich
Sabine Zentek
Lawyer and Publisher, Dortmund
Legal
advice:
Dr. Aliki Busse
Lawyer, Chambers Busse & Partner, Munich
The Prize-Winners of Plagiarius
2005:
The Jury met on January 22, 2005. Three prizes,
six distinctions and one special prize have been
awarded; total entities: 30.
1.
Prize: Tab for a Washbasin "Tara Classic“
Original: Producer: Aloys F. Dornbracht GmbH &
Co. KG, Iserlohn, Germany
Design: Sieger Design, Sassenberg, Germany
Plagiarism: Producer: Perfect Design Creator Intl.
Co. Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan
Sales: After the Plagiarius award ceremony Dornbracht
and the German distributor have found a mutual agreement
– the plagiarism has been withdrawn from the
German market
2. Prize: Level
Measurement Radar „VEGAPULS 51-54”
Original: VEGA Grieshaber KG, Schiltach, Germany
Plagiarism: Beijing Ripeness Sanyuan Instrumentation
Co. Ltd., Beijing, China
3. Prize:
Etagère „Babell“
Original: Koziol >> ideas for friends GmbH,
Erbach, Germany
Plagiarism: Sagad S.C., Kobylka, Poland
Six „Distinctions“ (equal in
rank) were awarded to:
Full Globe (Lights) „MFL 350“ and „MFL
550“
Original: Moonlight GmbH, Wehr, Germany
Plagiarism: BEGA Gantenbrink-Leuchten KG Deutschland,
Menden, Germany
Egg-Opener "Clack"
Original: Take2 Designagentur GmbH & Co. KG,
Rosenheim, Germany
Plagiarism: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH &
Co. KG, Ingelheim, Germany
Synchronous Motor "Elektra"
Original: Trietex GmbH, Efringen-Kirchen, Germany
Plagiarism: Producer: Qing Ying Enterprise, Shanghai,
China
Sales: Forest Group B.V., Oeventer, The Netherlands
Proportional Pressure Regulator “MPPE-3-1/8-10-010B”
Original: Festo AG & Co. KG, Esslingen, Germany
Plagiarism: Wuxi Hengli Hydraulic & Pneumatic
Co. Ltd., Hudai Town of Wuxi, China
Egg-Cups “Speedy & Friends”
Original: Casablanca GmbH & Co. KG Modernes
Design, Bocholt, Germany
Plagiarism: Producer: Rosco International Corp.,
Taipei, Taiwan
Sales: After the Plagiarius award ceremony Casablanca
and the Ger- man distributor have found a mutual
agreement – the plagiarism has been withdrawn
from the German market
Water Dispenser "Lite"
Original: AdHoc Entwicklung- und Vertrieb GmbH,
Mannheim, Germany
Plagiarism: Producer: Ningbo Easy Houseware Co.
Ltd., China
Sales: XENOS, Waalwijk, The Netherlands
The following "Special Prize" was awarded:
Special Award for a Series Perpetrator
Ceramics-Line: Vases "Barrique" (7 pieces)
Original: Scheurich GmbH & Co. KG, Kleinheubach,
Germany
Plagiarisms: Chengda Porcelain Art Fty, Chaozhou,
China
The award ceremony of „Plagiarius
2005“ takes place as follows:
„Ambiente“ Fair, Frankfurt
Congress Center, Messe Frankfurt (Fair), Room „Illusion
1-3“
Date: Friday, February 11, 2005, 11:30 h.
The laudatory speech on the prize winners is held
by Dr. Michel Friedman, Lawyer, Publisher and President
of the Keren Hayesod Deutschland – Vereinigten
Israel Aktion e.V., Germany.
The Plagiarius prize winners 2004 + 2005 will be
presented at the Special Show "Plagiarius"
from February 11-15, 2005 at the Foyer 4.1 (Hall
4, level 1).
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