His fabric was ripped off, and with his own scissors
Fabric lines
Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, August 17, 2005
Intellectual property issues continue to get more problematic for the residential furniture fabric business, and as more suppliers use Chinese fabrics and more domestic mills supplement lines with imported goods, it will get worse.
A too-frequent scenario goes something like this: Fabrics “R” Us spends time and money on a design that is then, in order to be price competitive, sent (or taken) to Mill XYZ in China to be woven. Before long, the president of Fabrics “R” Us spots his design among the offerings of Chinese goods being sold by a distributor who has purchased the pattern in China, perhaps without knowing the pattern belonged to Fabrics “R” Us. Another common scenario: An American vendor takes a pattern to China and asks three or four mills if they can produce the goods. Each creates sample yardage and the American makes a deal with one of them. The others, having produced the sample, feel entitled to put the pattern into their showrooms, where other buyers can select it. Before our American vendor unpacks from his trip to China, the new pattern could be in the line of a competitor, who perhaps thought he was purchasing an exclusive design.Obviously, controlling distribution of Chinese goods is, as profoundly understated by a textile executive, “very difficult.” Given cultural differences and questionable ethics on the part of some buyers and sellers alike, is it any wonder? It certainly creates a lot of awkward moments among fabric companies.China at least has acknowledged it needs to better protect intellectual property rights, and at least one American company, Global Textile Alliance, has been issued a patent by the Peoples Republic of China State Intellectual Property Bureau in Beijing.But, hey, it’s difficult to keep a handle on your designs at home, especially at shows like Showtime, where buyers and sellers stroll the halls far beyond business hours. Just ask Danny Kingsley, president of AAdvantage International Fabrics.Like all fabric vendors, Kingsley is accustomed to the occasional buyer who asks for a corner of a fabric sample “to go,” and even the occasional buyer who feels entitled to cut his own corner without asking. The nagging worry the design will be compromised is just part of the business. Accommodating a customer is one thing, but a thief is something else altogether.Kingsley arrived at his Market Square space one morning during Showtime last month to find that someone had come into his fully enclosed showroom during the night and hacked out a large square of two of his most popular new items. As always, he was philosophical, chalking up such industrial espionage as part of the cost of doing business.One element of the violation did upset him, however. “The worst thing,” he quipped, “is I think they used my scissors.”
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His fabric was ripped off, and with his own scissors
Aug 21, 2005
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