The Perils of counterfeit marquees

The manufacture of fakes is widespread and it is not just Calvin Klein underwear and Louis Vuitton bags its anything from iPhone’s to mechanical diggers, no technology is immune from lawless and dangerous copies. Defending what’s yours can be tough! But this example might make people think twice about so called ‘bargain copies’ To protect our ability to create world-class ideas in the future, we must make sure that we warn people about the perils of cheap copies.

A potential Losberger customer was tempted away from our genuine products by the promise of cheap prices for counterfeit marquees; a copy of our uniflex range. From face value the product mimics the genuine Losberger uniflex structure with the same look, connection parts and signature gusset plates etc. The customer proudly proclaimed that it was designed in Germany then copied in the Far East; he went onto say that he purchased the equipment for 50% less than if he purchased it from Europe.

Counterfeit Marquees endanger lives

After the product was built for the first time it was checked by local engineers, the results were quite astonishing; yet not surprising! The product was deemed completely unsafe and did not meet the wind and snow loads required for that country. As a result the structure had to undergo major re-enforcement and an excessive amount of bracing was needed in every single bay. The unconfirmed eventual cost to the customer was over 150,000.00 Euros. So the cheap copy was a complete false economy! Lesson learnt?…well maybe, but that sale has already been lost, the customers reputation damaged and a huge amount of money wasted, not to mention lives and livelihoods put at risk.

Extra bracing required after engineers check to make the product safe and stable

New products and ideas are fair game to unscrupulous manufacturers and defending them is relentless, the copycat culture is rife and stopping the culprits is almost impossible! Buying a counterfeit product may seem financially beneficial and perfectly innocent with a sense of getting one over on the higher cost alternatives – but it damages the firms that invest in the research and development, and slows the progress of new ideas.

While we might not be able to compete in large-scale cheap manufacturing of counterfeit marquees, Losberger can still rival rogue manufacturers when it comes to engineering new, breakthrough technology. It is this breakthrough technology that will keep us economically sound, our research and development is undertaken in the knowledge that the idea is ours and we will be rewarded for its success, but it is also extremely expensive, risky and labour-intensive and it’s only the support of our customers that will make honest manufacturing prevail.