As ISH closes for another year with reports of record numbers of visitors and positive reviews across the board, we hear from Hansgrohe that a number of counterfeit versions of its products were removed from the exhibition on the opening day of the fair.
Hansgrohe has long held a zero tolerance policy towards product rip offs and piracy and, in this most recent operation with customs investigators and patent agents, identified and confiscated pirate copies of showers and a kitchen mixer.
The company estimates that piracy can cause annual losses of up to 30 billion euros and put somewhere in the vicinity of 70,000 jobs at risk. Richard Grohe, Deputy CEO of Hansgrohe SE says the company has been taking decisive steps to combat plagiarism for years. Exhibitors caught with counterfeit or pirated products can have their stands closed and can face criminal proceedings.
Monitoring, identifying and confiscating suspect products is a joint venture between Messe Frankfurt, customs and Hansgrohe SE. But economic reasons are not the only motivators in this fight against piracy. Damage to the company’s reputation for quality, safety and function can be immeasurable so it’s understandable why Hansgrohe invests between two and three million euros annually in the legal protection of its rights.
“We owe it to the consumers, and also to our partners in specialist bathroom retail and trade, to constantly clamp down on product pirates in this way”, says Richard Grohe, “because the cheap copies are detrimental to them too, as they are to us, the brand-name company.”
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