The designers at Germany-based bathroom products manufacturer Hansgrohe have earned many awards over the years but the company’s latest honor is for a distinction they’d rather not receive.
Chinese-made knockoffs of two of the company’s most popular fixtures were named as winners of the 2017 Plagiarius Prize, announced in Frankfurt last week for companies that manufacture and distribute copies of consumer goods. The goal of the 41-year-old program is to publicly expose and raise awareness about the unfair and sometimes criminal business practices of counterfeiters around the world, says the program’s founder professor Rido Busse.
Copies of fixtures from Hansgrohe and its Axor brand were among the 10 products chosen by the jury: Axor’s transparent Starck V glass faucet designed in collaboration with Philippe Starck, and the Hansgrohe Metris Classic faucet by Phoenix Design.
“Brands and products that are particularly successful in the market are always the ones to be imitated or copied,” says Carmen Vetter, head of Hansgrohe’s proprietary rights department. “It is all the more important to continue to fight against product piracy. This award strengthens our position and raises awareness of the importance of proprietary rights, even in China, and hopefully it sends a clear message.”
The company will continue to fight against product piracy, including taking legal action in Europe, China, and anywhere else that counterfeit products are made and sold, Vetter says, adding that damages caused by piracy amount to five to ten percent of its total sales. He noted the many differences in quality and durability of the real products compared to the knockoffs.
A total of 27 products were submitted to the awards program; the jury awarded three main prizes, as well as seven honorable mentions including an office chair, pitcher, and child’s scooter.
