Will Pirates Turn Your Dream into a Nightmare?

After working tirelessly on product development and a brilliant marketing campaign, the last thing you want to ~~hear~~ learn is that a firm in another country recreated your product as a knockoff. The problem of piracy occurs in at least one marketer’s life on a daily basis, but it only makes them more determined to carry on.

Last week I read a fascinating story in the July 5th Wall Street Journal about piracy and how a Chicago-based husband and wife team who make BraBaby are combatting Chinese companies that sell knockoffs of their product at prices below the U.S. wholesale rate.

“You think the hard part is coming up with a great product, but then you find out the hard work has just begun.”

The article reveals the mindboggling twists and turns of product protection, and all the while you must continue concentrating on your own marketing efforts to put the product in the hands of buyers. Here’s some of what BraBaby’s makers experienced.

Successful sales and marketing efforts through home shopping networks, which became the genesis for the piracy.

Investing $125,000 in patent registrations, copyrights, and trademarks in the U.S. and other countries.

Travel to the Canton Fair in China to confront the knockoff firms.

Cease-and-desist letters sent to 71 Chinese firms, some of which worked, but others have ignored.

A loss of sales to companies that are now buying the product’s knockoff version.

There may be laws that prohibit piracy, but we all know that no law stops it cold. However, this story exemplifies how passionately we believe in our products and how far we’ll go to protect what we create.

Has the piracy problem stopped you or someone you know from creating a revolutionary product?

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