VDMA ”Pro Original” campaign

Original or forgery? This is a question that not only manufacturers ask themselves. Also for customers buying construction equipment and building material machinery there are unforeseeable risks. The risks include economic damage due to shorter economic lifetime and longer down time, loss of warranty and limitations in safety for personnel as well as during operation. All of this spoils the customer’s balance sheets.

So what could he do in order to protect himself from such risks? He should be fully aware of the advantages of using original technology only and take a good look next time he has to make a purchasing decision. This is what VDMA wants to achieve with its worldwide communication campaign “Pro Original” (Fig. 1; from left: Stephan Philip Kühne, Member of the Board of German Messe AG, Dr. Hannes Hesse, Executive Director of VDMA and Hartmut Schauerte, State Secretary, German Federal Ministry of Economic and Technology). The central message is: Original technology pays off.
 
The campaign logo, showing three inter­woven Cs, stands for copyright – the protection of intellectual property (Fig. 2). It also symbolizes a fingerprint representing the individual and distinctive character of the original. In a technology based industry such as the ­engineering sector, the protection of intellectual property rights is vital. It is the basis for future development and innovation.
 
The damage caused to customers worldwide due to product counterfeiting and piracy is impossible to estimate. The extent to which the manufacturers’ competitiveness is affected by product counterfeiting and piracy can be seen from a study carried out by the VDMA in April 2008. Here, the damage caused by plagiarism in 2007 to only the German manufactures of equipment and machinery is stated to have been 7 billion 0. This is 2 billion 0 more than in the previous year. 24  % cent of all companies affected by plagiarism saw decreases of their turnover of more than 5  %. A quarter reported a decline in turnover of 2–5  %. Copies were made in particular of entire machinery (52  %), followed by components (50  %) and spare parts (32  %). According to this survey, China is the number one country to making these copies.
 
The VDMA’s position
on product counterfeiting and piracy Plagiarism is a transnational threat. It can only be counteracted against internationally. In 2007, the countries belonging to G8 put their common fight against breaking industrial property rights very high on their agendas. This path must be followed without exception. It is, first and foremost, the EU which has to take action. One of the latest measures taken by the European Commission in Beijing only in May 2008 is the introduction of the IPR Helpdesk for SMEs. All European companies which have been affected by plagiarism receive help from lawyers, investigators and former IPR Managers free of charge.
www.vdma.org; www.china-iprhelpdesk.eu; www.pro-original.com