A retractable dog leash from the Holstein manufacturer flexi-Bogdahn, which was sold by online dealers on various sites such as Amazon.com, captured first place in the shame-prize contest. Two manufacturers from Southern Germany were recognised with second and third place: the office furnisher Interstuhl from Baden-Württemberg, whose brand chairs were illegally copied, as well as the Bavarian manufacturer WIKA Alexander Wiegand, whose pressure gauges were plagiarised.
For the illegal copies of the Interstuhl chairs, for example, China-based counterfeiters copied the product precisely, even though the original is protected by registered designs, patents, and a 3-D brand. The counterfeiters, however, “employed inferior materials,” as the Swabian original manufacturer emphasised in a press release: “Consumers, too, end up losing money when they buy alleged brand products. Nonetheless, product counterfeiting is considered a trivial offense by most of them. This is why especially consumers need to be sensitised for the problem.”
Further affected original manufacturers include Baden-Württemberg-based Hansgrohe SE, whose bathroom sink armatures were counterfeited. Additionally, illegal copies of a shopping bag, a jacket, and a transport aid were recognised, as were counterfeits of various kitchen utensils such as a nutcracker, a thermos can, and a Julienne peeler. (The images at the bottom show some of the prize-winners, with the original product on the left and fake on the right).
The trophy the prize-winners receive is a black gnome with a golden nose, “as a symbol of the proverbial exorbitant profits that the counterfeiters earn at the cost of innovative manufacturers,” explains Aktion Plagiarius.
The Plagiarius shame-prize was awarded for the 41st time this year (we reported on the prize winners in 2016 and 2015). Since 1977, the Aktion Plagiarius society has received a total of around 1,600 reports of counterfeiting, roughly 400 of which were chosen as prize-winners. The association hopes that the annual negative prize award will sensitise consumers for the problem of product piracy and deter potential counterfeiters.
