Worst-of awards Plagiarius once again expose brazen counterfeiters

© Aktion Plagiarius e. V. (original on the left / counterfeit on the right)
On 9 February, the German association Aktion Plagiarius e. V. awarded a total of ten dishonors to blatant counterfeits of the past year. All of the top 3 counterfeiters came from China and were violating IP rights of German manufacturers. But German counterfeit products also caused a stir.

This year, first place in the ‘worst-of’ Plagiarius award ranking went to fake copies of Genius GmbH’s (Limburg) kitchen cutting devices. The counterfeits were of inferior quality and contained harmful substances. Next to the kitchen appliance, the Chinese counterfeiters allegedly also copied numerous other Genius products and then sold their fake goods on the Internet, at trade fairs and markets, and via catalogs.

Second and third place were occupied by counterfeit products violating the IP rights of North Rhine-Westphalian manufacturers: Illegal imitations of Wibit Sport’s (Bocholt) inflatable water park came in second place, with the counterfeiters even imitating the concept and music of a Wibit’s commercial. Counterfeits of PUKY GmbH & Co. KG’s children toy car – where the design and technique of the product were copied point by point using cheap materials – came third in the rankings. “Partial or complete counterfeiting of our products is a regular occurrence,” comments Joachim Rao, Head of Product Management at Puky, to German newspaper Handelsblatt.

However, it was not only counterfeits coming from China that caused a stir last year. The Plagiarius campaign also criticized fakes from Germany including: imitations of a Taiwanese manufacturer’s bathroom accessories; and unauthorized copies of the Hessian company inditec’s frame profiles. In both cases, the counterfeit goods were distributed by dealers from Germany. In addition, there were two awards for forgeries of Odenwald’s Koziol ideas for friends GmbH products: one for unauthorized copies of a storage container and the other for a cheese grater; the fakes where distributed by a South American and a Spanish company, respectively.

In addition, other brazen imitations were awarded, including products such as silicone baking molds, pocket knives, and a switch cabinet heating unit. The awards were presented on 9 February at the Ambiente Trade Fair in Frankfurt. The German association Aktion Plagiarius e. V. strives to expose the shameful audacity of counterfeiters with their annual Plagiarius ‘anti-prize’ Awards.


© Aktion Plagiarius e. V. (original on the left / counterfeit on the right)

© Aktion Plagiarius e. V. (original on the left / counterfeit on the right)

© Aktion Plagiarius e. V. (original on the left / counterfeit on the right)

Sources: Aktion Plagiarius e. V., Handelsblatt

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