During the recent Guangzhou Entertainment Technology (GET) exhibition, MA Lighting and Avolites launched a series of anti-counterfeiting actions on the expo site with the help of the tradeshow organizers. This is another joint action by the two major stage lighting control brands, following a similar initiative at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt.
Some counterfeit manufacturers in China have long copied MA Lighting and Avolites’ products, and a large number of them are located in Guangzhou. The GET Show – held in Guangzhou – is now one of the most important international industry shows attracting visitors from all over the world, and recently became a “must-go” annual appointment.
The support of the GET show in respecting international patents and copyrights follows the directions by the government of the People’s Republic of China, who set higher goals for the local manufacturing industry with their “Made in China 2025” plan.
This makes a clear statement: “It is understandable to learn advanced foreign technology through imitation during the early years of manufacturing industry development, but pirated copyright infringement is a totally different concept from imitation learning.
The practice of pirating infringement under the name of ‘imitation learning’ can only become a malignant tumor that harms the industry, it is also a clear crime.
Our manufacturing industry needs more innovation, and we urgently need to improve Intellectual Property Protection. Of course, we should support Made-in-China, but this is definitely not as such Made-in-China. Otherwise, in the future when we will once again face sanctions like those that the United States has launched against ZTE and the trade war waged against our entire manufacturing industry we can only surrender.”
Franco Zaghini, director of business development for MA Lighting, and Avolites’ sales director Koy Neminathan led the team to negotiate with counterfeit manufacturers on the show floor and asked them to withdraw all displayed infringing products.
Zaghini commented: “The way we conducted our actions was this; on the first day of the show, we sat with the GET organizers to show them all our Patents, Trademarks and IPs and their authenticity; at the same time our staff went around the exhibition halls to identify potential infringers. The second day, we visited the booth of the infringing companies accompanied by GET show organizers; we sat at the table of their booths with their management, owners and staff who had declared themselves entitled to speak with us. After showing them the proof of our patents and IP rights, none of the counterfeiters, had any objections and they removed voluntarily all the infringing products. They clearly know they are committing a crime. grandMA2 software is only legal for use on our own hardware platforms; using our software either on consoles or any other window-based hardware developed by any other manufacturer is ‘pirated copyright infringement’.”
The companies involved were:
YEL, Yel Intelligence Technology Co. Ltd.
YPL, Guangzhou Yunpeng Lighting Equipment Co.,
F-LINE, Guangzhou Fine Line Performing Equipment Co. Ltd.
GUODA, Guangzhou Guoda Electronic Technology Development Co. Ltd.
HB Lighting, Guangzhou HB Lighting Equipment Co. Ltd.
LIV Lighting, Guangzhou LIV Lighting Equipment Co. Ltd.
XFC, Guangzhou Xun Fei Optoelectrionic Equipment Co. Ltd.
ZNL, Guangzhou Zunneng Stage Equipment Co. Ltd.
Taurus Light Co. Ltd.
These counterfeiting actions will continue outside the People’s Republic of China against importers of counterfeited products in every single country.