“1/4″]”6071″]”3/4”]BUT ACID INSISTS THE FIGHT MUST GO ON TO PROTECT THE UK’S DESIGN ENTRPRENEURS AGAINST IP INFRINGEMENT!

In a Sunday Times article written by Liam Kelly three ACID members are cited (Talking Tables, ThisisNessie and Trunki) in their continuing battles against design infringement. Behemoth retailer B & M stores was cited in the frame again for the second time by ACID in a legal battle which was eventually settled. B & M have paid a total of £75.000 in two settlements whilst not admitting liability!

Mark McCormack, Managing Director of Talking Tables says “I am now pursuing two more high street retailers for ripping off my products. Now we’ve fought and won, we feel braver!”

Sunday Times author Liam Kelly said, “If a big company copies the products of a small business, it’s expensive and time-consuming to stop them.”

ACID consistently articulates this message to Government that a more cost and time effective means of access to justice is well overdue. Litigation is the luxury of the few and ACID has suggested that maybe it is time for a national intellectual property ombudsman to be appointed together with a fast track Court system which favours micro and SME design creatives.

Read the latest case studies here and here.

Read about the stark reality of copying on social media by ThisisNessie story here.

And the Trunki story against major retailer PMS International here.

Interestingly, B & M’s corporate social responsibility statement does not include anything about intellectual property respect and compliance although they make bold statements about anti-slavery, human trafficking together with a statement about their sourcing that, “The vast majority of products which are imported into the UK by B&M are sourced from China. These are mainly machine manufactured goods, as opposed to labour intensive handmade products.” On ethical business practices, they confirm, their commitment to “continually strive to find effective ways of improving communication and adherence to ethical business practices and assessment of risks and always welcome feedback from all stakeholders in relation to our business. Our policies, procedures and approach to verification processes are geared toward what we think are balanced and reasonable, practical and effective.”  It would be most interesting to find out their stance on the latest two ACID cases against them, although they did not admit liability.

Dids Macdonald, OBE CEO of ACID said, “I call on Government to place more focus on the communicated and articulated inclusion of intellectual property respect, compliance and ethics as an expectation within corporate social responsibility. In a recent survey (and included in the 2017-2018 UK IP Crime Report, ACID reveals that 90% of those surveyed said that copying was intentional and deliberate. This is a shocking statistic and those who seek the fast track and cheap route to market on the backs of others’ innovation should be held to account.”