Plagiarism incidents appeared on both sides of the Shenzhen exhibition brand

At the Shenzhen Furniture Fair, which has just come to an end, the corporate rights protection incident has once again become the focus of the industry.

On the first day of the opening of the furniture, Beijing Ronglin Shijia Furniture complained that the Baisen Furniture Grand View series was suspected of copying its original design. After research and comparison, the Shenzhen Furniture Fair intellectual property rights lawyer judged that Rong Lin Shijia v. Bosen plagiarism did not hold. Rong Lin Shijia said that he will be ready to appeal to the court. And Parkson Furniture will also respond to the legal adverse effects of Rong Lin Shijia on the Bosen brand in this incident.

The final dispute over the original design has won no one. In addition to the attention of many parties in the act of safeguarding rights, the original design problem once again caused the industry to think. As the original design of domestic furniture has just started, the intellectual property protection system is still immature. In the face of homogenization competition, plagiarism and other chaos, domestic brand furniture enterprises can only be helpless. In contrast, overseas brand furniture companies, due to the core competitiveness of the unrepeatable, they are more calm and calm.

No matter the winning or losing, the brand image will be hurt.

The “rights protection” incident originated on March 19th. On the first day of the opening of the exhibition, Beijing Ronglin Shijia submitted an application for rights protection to the relevant departments of the Shenzhen Furniture Exhibition Organizing Committee, alleging that the exhibitors and brands of Shenzhen Yaohua Yijia Furniture Co., Ltd., Bosen Four pieces of furniture "Daguan" series are suspected of infringing the design patent of "Kyocera", the brand of Ronglin Shijia.

"We compared the booths at Bosen and found that there are several products such as canopy beds, single sofas, and circle chairs that are suspected of plagiarizing the design. They are not only similar in appearance, but also have the same materials. They are all African pears." Jia representative lawyer Feng Tao said. And Chen Annan, executive director of Bosen Furniture, reiterated that Bosen's product design has a special company responsible for it and applied for a patent.

The next day, after five hours of argumentation and comparison, Shenzhen Furniture Fair intellectual property rights lawyers determined that Rong Lin v. Bosen plagiarism is not established, and Bosen will continue to carry out all the business activities of the series. Relevant persons said that the comparison results showed that the appearance and lines of the two products were mostly different, and Bosen had a patent certificate. Bosen Furniture will respond to the legal impact of Rong Lin Shijia on the adverse effects of the Bosen brand in this incident.

Qilin, the president of Beijing Ronglin Home Furnishing Chain Co., Ltd., believes that this represents only the results of the exhibition organizing committee. The photos taken in the comparison are temporarily kept by the organizing committee, and the follow-up can be extracted as litigation materials. Ronglin Shijia will continue to pay. Legal actions. Up to now, Ronglin has been preparing relevant litigation materials and is preparing to formally appeal to the court.

In recent years, the lack of rights to the exhibition seems to be the endorsement of the furniture exhibition. The reporter has interviewed many insiders on this topic. They all said that most furniture companies hope to be original and dare to be original, but at the same time they are "very helpless." The difficulty of "defending rights" and "defending rights" are also tiring. No matter who wins or loses the result of "defending rights", it is more or less negative to argue that the brand image established by both parties for many years will be negatively affected.

18 months of research and development of new products can be copied in half a month

Today's home products no longer only meet the practical functions of the products, but also impress people with unique design to meet people's spiritual needs. At the Shenzhen Furniture Fair, an original design furniture exhibition was set up to showcase the furniture products of many famous domestic designers and to teach their design concepts. For example, the original design results brought by the exhibitors such as the "edge gathering" series of the left and right sofas, the solid wood series of "two leaves and rubber phase", and the "how many" original design products of Hou Zhengguang are even more "stunning".

Original design has become an important force driving the development of the home industry. According to statistics, the proportion of original design of Guangdong furniture industry has increased by 10% for three consecutive years since 2010, and has reached 30%, leading the country. This proportion is even close to that of developed countries in Europe and America, which means that the furniture industry in Guangdong has entered rapid development. The development stage of new products.

However, the level of innovative design across the industry remains at an early stage. The original design products of the furniture market in Europe and the United States account for 1/3, and the brand cycle is more than 5 years. Although the proportion of original design in Guangdong furniture industry is close to Europe and America, the brand cycle is only about 3 years.

There are many problems in the original design promotion. It is always difficult for the entrepreneurs to entangle. On the one hand, the original design cost is high. On the other hand, the recognition of the original industrial environment still needs to be improved. The plagiarism, the irregularity of post-complaint management, and other reasons have led to the original design being a more awkward topic.

Yang Jianwei, president of Innovative Furniture, a senior professional rights professional, said that the company invested 18 months of time and energy to develop a new product, but the cottage factory can be copied in half a month. "What do you say? Can you stop him?"

Courtyard Creative Director of Courtyard Interior Art Design Co., Ltd. said that since the original design of domestic furniture has just started, the intellectual property protection system is still immature, and most of the plagiarism is not subject to legal punishment. Therefore, the situation of furniture enterprises is helpless, and the infringed enterprises are added. The process of rights protection is complicated, which also causes some furniture companies to take only necessary self-protection measures in product development and delivery.

Have core competitiveness and make the cottage factory unable to copy

Yang Jianwei believes that the biggest challenge in adhering to originality is the recognition of consumers. Cottage products tend to simply pursue low prices, and prices can be half cheaper than original products. "At this time, the source will question how the original style is similar. It is so cheap for other families. You are so expensive. Are you really worth so much?" Yang Jianwei said frankly that this concept may change in the near future, but To be sure, original products require a relatively long time to get the approval of consumers.

Regarding Yang Jianwei's worries, the reporter got a different interpretation from an Italian high-end custom furniture exhibitor. The exhibitor told reporters that the domestic furniture industry has developed rapidly over the years, from manufacturing materials to craftsmanship. It can be said that it is almost the same as European products, but there is still a gap in product design, branding and cultural connotation. .

He said that many European furniture companies are family businesses, they specialize in the production of certain types of products, to achieve excellence. At the same time, European designers often use the most advanced production technology, combined with the unique advantages of the company, to develop their own exclusive products, once it is available, it is difficult for others to copy 100%.

The exhibitor believes that Chinese furniture is not without good products, but mainly because of the lack of brand value, it is difficult to sell high prices. Driven by market interests, companies are forced to reduce the materials and processes of their products. In China, furniture of the same material and craftsmanship can be sold at a very high price in foreign original imported brands, but the price of local brand furniture is difficult to sell high. This is also the consumer's cognitive difference between domestic and foreign brands.

“I have seen products in Beijing that have similar products to ours, but I don’t worry at all.” The exhibitor said that he was not too worried about furniture plagiarism. Because the company's brand positioning is high-end, such consumer groups will pay more attention to brand value, rather than the relatively low price of the cottage. In actual sales, most consumers still agree with imported furniture brands.