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Piracy, Copies and Fakes, Oh My!
May 27,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on May 2008
Our industry is not the only one that faces the issue of knockoffs. Check out the apparel, handbag or cosmetics industries. Design piracy runs rampant there, too.
The difference, however, is that typically those industries are more diligent in prosecuting companies that steal designs.
The latest available figures from the U.S. Department of Security—yep, that department is charged with overseeing such—show a 27-percent increase in the value of seizures of counterfeit products in 2007. The department said it seized counterfeit or pirated merchandise worth about $200 million last year.
Shoes were the top commodity snagged last year, marking a value of $77.7 million or 40 percent of the overall total for the year. Upper-end designers like Manolo Blahnik, Prada and Ralph Lauren, along with sports apparel producer Nike, top the lists of companies impacted by fake goods.
Change gears back to furniture where we talk about design knockoffs and design infringement sometimes openly in market showrooms; sometimes with a slightly lowered voice invoking some phrase along the lines of “this is our interpretation of” the latest, greatest, top-selling design.
In the world of fashion the words used in copyright cases seem stronger, more enforceable—counterfeit, piracy, copies, fake, phony, bogus, imitation. Powerful, noteable descriptions. The average person understands exactly what a counterfeit Rolex is. That same understanding gets muddied when our industry refers to a knockoff of a sofa design from Lee Inds. or Bernhardt’s Martha Stewart collections. It’s as if we excuse it to some degree.
It’s sad really.
We act as if stealing someone’s creative genius is the norm, not the exception, and it’s been going on for ages among furniture suppliers. We’ve had our share of infringement lawsuits, but that number doesn’t nearly add up to the number that it could be when you take an insider’s eye to furniture. A sea of sameness exists on many a retail floor.
Now, however, the tide is starting to turn. With more product coming in from offshore and more retailers looking to fill their stores with private-label products, design distinctions are blurring and along with it the liability for design theft.
Retailers, who for years have remained innocent parties to lawsuits regarding copyright infringement and design theft, are now becoming targets of such lawsuits. Yes, the target.
Over the years, retailers were insulated from being sued by manufacturers who needed the shop owners as customers. Who wants to sue a business partner? Today the lines have changed, and the Far East is fertile soil for new product—some fresh, creative designs, and others direct copies of top-selling furniture designs.
Suing a retailer sourcing its own product is no longer taboo; that retailer is now a direct competitior of companies that go to the expense of researching and creating fresh designs.
The liability is real and legitimate, and attorneys specializing in copyright infringement cases are seeing more and more of these types of lawsuits pop up.
So, bottom line, is your store safe from such a suit? Or are you dancing on a thin line that could impact your business in a significant way?
This month’s Home Furnishings Business discusses the pitfalls of design piracy and the impact they can have on a retail operation. Read on for some insightful information on private labels, ways to ensure you’re safe from legal action, and strategies for maintaining a clean showroom free from copied designs.