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Koelnmesse: Illegal copying gets the red card
Koelnmesse is showing illegal copiers the red card. On posters and brochures, you can see an arm stretched out toward the viewer and holding a clear message on a red card: "No Copy!" Assistance and consulting centres are also being set up in well-frequented spots at Cologne trade fairs that are especially affected in order to provide comprehensive support for exhibitors who are seeking advice. The measures represent the second stage of Koelnmesse's "No Copy! – Pro Original" initiative. In the first phase, Koelnmesse CEO Herbert Marner met with Chinese business partners in Beijing in the fall of 2007 to sign an "Intellectual Property Memorandum".
All of these measures aim to significantly limit violations of intellectual property rights at Cologne trade fairs, provide assistance to the exhibitors, and publicize these activities. In this way, Koelnmesse is playing a pioneering role as an active opponent of illegal copying, which is one of the urgent problems confronting the international trade fair business today.
In the future, the "No Copy!" stand will be the centre of activities aimed at avoiding violations of intellectual property rights at events that may be subject to them. Well-qualified staff members will record the trade fair customers' concerns and provide them with expert advice. In particular, the initiative aims to provide information that enables exhibitors at risk to take the necessary measures early on to protect their intellectual property rights at the international level. The exhibitors at imm cologne were very enthusiastic about the initiative and about the signing of the memorandum, which received wide media coverage in China and Europe. The "No Copy!" initiative cooperates closely with the responsible authorities in general and customs officials in particular. The customs authorities are sending mobile control groups (MCGs) into the trade fair halls to investigate possible cases of illegal copying; these MCGs are authorised to confiscate exhibited products. In the medium term, the initiative's participants expect their activities to discourage illegal copying.
The "No Copy!" stand will be set up at the following events in Cologne:- domotechnica, 18th to 21st February 2008
- INTERNATIONAL HARDWARE FAIR /PRACTICAL WORLD, 9th to 12th March 2008
- spoga+gafa, 31st August to 2nd September 2008
- Kind + Jugend, 11th to 14th September 2008
- IFMA Cologne, September 2008
- photokina, 23rd to 28th September 2008
- Intermot, 8th to 12th October 2008
- Orgatec, 21st to 25th October 2008
- imm cologne, 19th to 25th January 2009
- Asia-Pacific Sourcing, 1st to 3rd March 2009
- interzum, 13th to 16th May 2009
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