Brompton fights off lookalike
Taiwanese folding clones subject of an injunction

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Brompton Bicycle Ltd. seem not to have felt all that flattered when what they considered an imitation of their hugely popular folding bicycle started to appear in Spain. Instead they went to court and have just announced victory.
The court in
Emerson Roberts, Brompton’s Sales and Marketing Director, commented:
“We have always welcomed fair competition which advances the cause of cycling but these imitations merely borrow from years of hard work and innovation, adding nothing of value to the market, and confusing our customers.”
This is not the first time that Brompton, based in Brentford and producing over 26,000 bikes a year, have had to defend themselves against imitations.
A lookalike called the “Merc” was previously imported into the
When questioned by BikeRadar if piracy was a big problem within the Taiwanese bicycle industry, Quinton Pullinger of Brompton, who worked for a number of years in
“The
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“Those companies are less likely to infringe on intellectual property as they know the value it has for their businesses. In recent years the A-team was created to bring quality manufacturers together to further increase quality, design and the development of intellectual property. So we cannot say that
“The government has also improved laws on IP protection for local and foreign entities. Unfortunately, a small number of companies focus solely on financial gains and copy whatever is popular at the time. As soon as they are confronted with any legal claims, they simply close up shop, declare bankruptcy and open a new business next door and continue what they were doing. It is a case of a minority giving the majority a bad reputation, but