Long standing Anti Copying in Design (ACID) member Dan Black of Black+Blum recently contacted ACID CEO Dids Macdonald to ask her advice about trying to mediate in what he had described as discovering a disturbing lookalike design to his stainless steel lunch box.

Dan Black said, “I am extremely passionate about all the products we launch. We design them from scratch and are constantly looking for new ways to innovate. They are unique to us and not simply off-the-shelf imports with a custom logo. So while it might be flattering to inspire other brands, I do take it personally and am disappointed when one of our designs appears to have been copied. I recently discovered a stainless-steel lunch box being sold by a company called One Green Bottle. We haven’t formally started our legal challenge yet, so I can’t say it is a copy, but would greatly appreciate anyone who reads this to give their opinion and share.”

Since founding Black+Blum in 1998, Dan has discovered that this situation is not unique. The normal route is to launch a new design and within 1 – 2 years, they can start to see other brands taking inspiration. But actual lookalikes can sometimes be seen faster and are normally offered by retailers (for example, online marketplaces).

Dan continued, “The usual scenario is that a buyer from a large retailer might be new to a category and when offered a copy by a foreign factory or UK agent, won’t realise that it infringes our design. So what happens next? We will always try and resolve these issues without the need for lawyers and reach a settlement. We always register our designs and have been members of ACID (Anti Copying in Design) since we began. ACID is an amazing organisation that helps advise designers on how to protect their work and challenge copies.”

As soon as Dan saw the One Green Bottle lunch box, he contacted them and sent the details of their design and registration. One Green Bottle immediately took the design off their website and said they had 25 in stock from their supplier. Dan wrote back to say that was fine but if they could also please provide proof of how many they bought, and the details of who they bought them from (this is quite standard practice in a situation like this). With no reply, he wrote again.

Dan then received a reply from One Green Bottle, to say that, as they had removed the items from their website, the matter was resolved.

Dan responded, “Unless I heard back from them, I would write a LinkedIn post. But because there was no reply, here it is. We now also have a letter from their lawyer stating their design is not infringing our registered design, and that we have made groundless threats. So for the next steps, we will be forced to pursue this through formal legal channels.”

Sometimes a legal route is required, but the normal outcome is that the retailer promises not to order the product again. We often request they make a contribution to a sustainable charity as recompense.

In the case of this lunch box, One Green Bottle is a brand, not a retailer. They have been operating in the same space as Black+Blum since 2006. Whilst Dan cannot prove they were aware of the Black+Blum design, the category is not that big, and the Black+Blum design has been stocked in major UK retailers for the last four years. It has been selected as the best Stainless Steel Lunch Box by the Evening Standard and Independent. A quick Google search for “Stainless Steel Lunch Box” will bring up their design in the top three search results. It is not hard to find.

Dids Macdonald, OBE., CEO of ACID said, “Should Dan be publicising this case on the ACID Newsdesk and a platform like LinkedIn? Some might argue he is making a big deal out of a minor issue. I would argue that if you spend over two years innovating a design, investing time, energy and money, you might feel differently. It is about time that ethics, compliance, and respect for the intellectual property of others becomes the norm rather than the exception, which is a sad reality!”

Black + Blum have officially registered their design with the Intellectual Property Office, which can be viewed here.