How a Zug-based SME combats copies of its designs

The company’s first humidifier, named Fred, was placed on the market in 1999. Fred was followed by Oscar, which remains its most successful product to this day. The Zug-based company currently sells to over 50 countries. The manufacturing initially took place in Switzerland, but the company had no choice but to relocate it to China. However, the products are still designed in Switzerland. Five Swiss designers take it in turns to develop the products’ appearance. The work of these creative individuals is recognised on the Stadler Form website, and a photo of them features on the packaging. “We’re proud of our Swiss designers,” says Martin Stadler.

In a highly competitive market, design is an important differentiator, so a lot of time and effort is put into it. Swiss design has a good reputation around the world. But such success attracts free riders – and they like to copy Stadler products. The managing director equipped himself with a design protection strategy from the start. “We register every design to protect it. Even prototypes that don’t make it to market in the end. This approach is particularly important if we send our designs to China for manufacturing.” Stadler Form has a design protection certificate, which is an officially recognised document that it can use to take action against free riders. “The protection has a deterrent effect. Word gets around that we’re very active in combating copies, so companies are more likely to steer clear of our designs,” Martin Stadler says assuredly.

He shows us a recent copy from China, which looks very similar to a Stadler diffuser. “Because we have connections around the world, we find out about copies like this quickly – often when the counterfeit is still in the prototype stage,” says Martin Stadler. The product in question will likely become a case for their lawyer in China. Without assistance on the ground, it’s difficult to get very far in China, the entrepreneur says from experience.

Martin Stadler has seen all kinds of theft of his company’s intellectual property rights. “The most brazen thieves took our product, covered the logo and displayed it at a trade fair in China. They wanted to see whether people were interested in the product. Thanks to our Chinese design protection document, our lawyer in China was able to quickly take action.”

Martin Stadler has found the Chinese authorities to be ‘reasonably cooperative’. He says that the government is increasingly interested in making the country more secure in terms of intellectual property. In one case, the management of a local trade fair cooperated with Martin Stadler in removing a copycat product. “They really cracked down.”

He’s also had to take action in Switzerland. One time, a furniture chain had stocked a copy of a fan and, another time, a retailer was selling a copy of a diffuser. “In both cases, we were able to settle out of court and the products were taken off the market,” he tells us.

Despite all these efforts, you can never completely shake off the imitators. But that doesn’t discourage Martin Stadler: “It’s a simple formula – as soon as you achieve some success, people will copy you.” He adds that if you look at it that way, it’s also a form of recognition, albeit an unwanted one. Because the CEO is in no doubt: “We’ll continue to defend our design rights.”