energy chain - original and counterfeit

Anyone who develops and manufactures good products will attract counterfeiters and imitators. This (unfortunately) also applies to igus®. We currently hold more than 1000 industrial property rights (patents and trademarks) in over thirty countries and repeatedly come across counterfeits or plagiarisms of our energy chain.
Some of these are brazen imitations - with the igus® logo or a similar sounding product name, but only a fraction of the service life. In some cases, however, competitors do not check the patent situation carefully and adopt design details that are still protected by valid igus® patents. Of course, this is also an infringement of the law.

A frank word on the subject of "Industrial property rights"

A patent confers rights on the owner. Among other things, he or she can require anyone to refrain from commercial use of the patented invention. Prohibited commercial use is: manufacturing, offering, circulating, using, importing or exporting. This means that the trade, exhibition etc. of a machine containing a patent infringing product is already a "prohibited commercial use", which is often not generally recognised. This is independent of whether the installation is carried out by ourselves or by a subcontractor.
happens. If the patent proprietor establishes that his or her rights have been infringed, he or she can take legal action to defend himself or herself (infringement action before the civil court).

Why it pays to rely on original energy chains from igus®

Tested in the igus® laboratory
On an area of around 3,800 m2 - the largest test laboratory in the industry - all products are comprehensively tested at more than 110 test stations. In the laboratory area alone, which tests the e-chain® and the movable chainflex® cable, the test specimens complete more than 10 billion cycles per year.

Further information on the igus® test laboratory

Warranty on energy chain
The results of these tests are also the basis for the service life expectancy values that we specify in the online configurators or determine for you. These values give you and us the certainty that our guarantee promise of up to 4 years on all wear-related energy chain components is valid in each individual case. It goes without saying that the high service life values of the igus® energy chain do not even come close to applying to counterfeit products. We also check this in the test laboratory.

Differences between original and counterfeit

The differences between the original and the counterfeit are often small - but they have serious consequences. The manufacturers of the counterfeit igus® energy chain do not use high-quality "performance plastic" or tribo-polymers with precisely defined specifications. In addition, the injection moulded parts often have blowholes and impurities. The moulds are often (but not always) of inferior quality and the design details that ensure the special functions or durability of the igus® energy chain are missing.

energy chain from igus® are extremely durable. This does not apply to the imitations. Their quality is poorer and they fail sooner. The (few) users who deliberately buy a counterfeit because it is supposedly cheaper should bear this in mind. Even if the counterfeit energy chain only costs half the price of the genuine branded product, you are still doing a very bad deal if it only achieves 25% or 30% of the service life of an igus® energy chain. And if you take into account the costs of machine downtime and replacement, it becomes even clearer: counterfeit products are really expensive.

Buy igus® products with guarantee directly from the manufacturer

What can you do to ensure that you are not using counterfeit or patent-infringing products? There is no such thing as one hundred per cent certainty. When purchasing machines, it is certainly helpful to rely on brand manufacturers who respect intellectual property and not on "no name" products. If you buy igus® products and install them yourself, the matter is simple: buy from the respective national company or the trading partner you know on site.

To the shop

The legal side

A patent is effectively the inventor's reward or recognition for investment in research and development and for inventive talent: for a certain period of time - for the duration of the patent - the patent holder may exclusively use his innovation or grant rights of use. Anyone who infringes this right must expect to be prohibited from commercially utilising the product in question. According to case law, this includes manufacturing, offering, putting into circulation and using as well as importing or exporting the product - but also the mere possession of the product for one of the aforementioned purposes. If a patent holder realises that his rights are being infringed, he can take legal action to defend himself - by bringing a civil infringement action or through criminal or customs proceedings.

Patent infringement can be expensive

The first legal step following the discovery of patent infringements is usually the "request to issue a cease-and-desist declaration". If a patent infringement lawsuit is (or has to be) filed, the costs can run into five to six figures. This is because the scale of fees for such proceedings is based on the value in dispute, which in turn is based on the turnover achieved with the patented product, among other things.

The (patent) law is enforced

Just a few years ago, international prosecution of patent infringements and plagiarism was difficult to enforce. This has changed. The majority of plagiarised products from igus®-energy chain are manufactured in China and the authorities here are now very effective in enforcing patent rights and cooperative in the prosecution of more or less clumsy plagiarism.

The result: every year, at our instigation, many plagiarised products from other manufacturers are prosecuted. After successful patent infringement suits (or after a settlement following the filing of a suit), the (injection moulding) tools used to manufacture the counterfeits are often secured and subsequently destroyed. We also often discover counterfeits of igus®-energy chain or patent infringements at trade fair stands. Or our trading partners give us a tip-off. We investigate every tip-off so as not to jeopardise the good reputation of our products.

What to do if you suspect a counterfeit?

If you suspect that an alleged igus®-energy chain is a counterfeit: Please contact igus® - the head office or the national subsidiary. Contact us now.

As we primarily want to take action against the manufacturer of the patent or trade mark infringing product, we ask you to name the source(s) of supply if you have installed a copy. If you have used the plagiarised product in ignorance of the patent situation or the fact that it is a plagiarised product and you provide us with sufficient support in enforcing the patent rights against the manufacturer, we will not take legal action against you.

Consulting

I look forward to answering your questions

Han Song (Denis) Yap

Senior Product Manager for e-chain® ASEAN

+65 9834 4953 Write e-mail

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