Replica furniture

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The replica furniture industry was developed in the mid-2000s as a means to legally produce furniture designs that no longer held valid copyright protection. Many replica furniture companies are based in the UK. The current furniture copyright laws in the UK differ from much of the rest of Europe, allowing designer furniture to be reproduced, distributed, and purchased. Most replica furniture companies produce items originally designed by 20th Century Scandinavian and American designers, some of the most popular being Arne Jacobsen, Charles Eames, and Hans J. Wegner. As of 2015, the industry accounts for thousands of EU jobs and turns over tens of millions of pounds per year.

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[Update] After pressure from the European Union, new legislation was expedited. The Independent writes: [1] "From 28 April, furniture designs in Britain will be protected from unlicensed manufacture for 75 years – that's an extra 50. Under the new legislation, retailers selling unlicensed copies – whether classics or bog-standard bog seats – will be liable to fines or jail up to ten years."

UK law originally gave a transitional period lasting from 2015 until 2020. [2] Before 2020 copyright on a design was going to continue to offer protection for 25 years from creation. After this date, the copyright will be held by the designer for 70 years following their death. This change brings UK legislation in line with that of other European countries. As a result, companies who are registered in the UK were free to produce and sell replica furniture until that point.

Products

The items produced by replica furniture companies are typically produced to the same, or very similar, designs as the original products. Sometimes there will be differences in materials and dimensions. They are typically sold at a much lower price point than products from original manufacturers and dealers such as Skandium and Vitra. This is usually because many replica companies are solely online businesses, hence do not pay showroom costs and many also manufacture their furniture abroad. Some of the most popular designs include Verner Panton's Panton Chair, Eames' DSW, DSR, DAR Chairs, and Arne Jacobsen’s AJ Lamp series.

In May 2014, Infurn.com, one of Europe’s largest replica furniture companies, filed for insolvency due to ever-mounting debts. [3] This gained media attention as customers lost thousands of pounds on unfulfilled orders, while many of the company’s staff’s wages went unpaid. This led to the foundation of the website stopinfurn.com by disgruntled customers and as of February 2015, many of them are still to be reimbursed.

The Replica Furniture Association

In 2014 one company initiated the set-up of the Replica Furniture Association in response to the negative press coverage surrounding the closures of Ikon M and Infurn. The goal of the association was to establish a collective of reproduction furniture companies, each of whom must abide by a strict code of ethics to be considered for membership. These values include providing a high standard of customer service, provable financial stability, and a high customer satisfaction score. (However, the site and/or initiative does not exist any longer).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arne Jacobsen</span> Danish architect (1902–1971)

Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple well-designed chairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial design</span> Process of design

Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufacture or production of the product. Industrial manufacture consists of pre-determined, standardized and repeated, often automated, acts of replication, while craft-based design is a process or approach in which the form of the product is determined personally by the product's creator largely concurrent with the act of its production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shopping cart</span> Cart supplied by a shop

A shopping cart, trolley, or buggy, also known by a variety of other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a shop or store, especially supermarkets, for use by customers inside the premises for transport of merchandise as they move around the premises, while shopping, prior to heading to the checkout counter, cashiers or tills. Increasing the amount of goods a shopper can collect increases the quantities they are likely to purchase in a single trip, boosting store profitability.

Hans Jørgensen Wegner was a Danish furniture designer. His work, along with a concerted effort from several of his manufacturers, contributed to the international popularity of mid-century Danish design. His style is often described as Organic Functionality, a modernist school with emphasis on functionality. This school of thought arose primarily in Scandinavian countries with contributions by Poul Henningsen, Alvar Aalto, and Arne Jacobsen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verner Panton</span> Danish furniture designer

Verner Panton is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant and exotic colors. His style was very "1960s" but regained popularity at the end of the 20th century. As of 2004, Panton's best-known furniture models are still in production.

Brio is a wooden toy company founded in Sweden. The company was founded in the small town of Boalt, Scania, Götaland in 1884 by basket maker Ivar Bengtsson. For a long time the company was based in Osby, Scania, in southern Sweden. In 1908 Ivar's three sons took the company over and gave it the name "BRIO", which is an acronym for: BRöderna Ivarsson (in) Osby. In 2006 BRIO moved its headquarters to Malmö, Scania. It is best known for its wooden toy trains, sold in Europe since 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiener Werkstätte</span> Production community of artists in Vienna

The Wiener Werkstätte, established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria that brought together architects, artists, designers and artisans working in ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts. The Workshop was "dedicated to the artistic production of utilitarian items in a wide range of media, including metalwork, leatherwork, bookbinding, woodworking, ceramics, postcards and graphic art, and jewelry." It is regarded as a pioneer of modern design, and its influence can be seen in later styles such as Bauhaus and Art Deco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Miller</span> Manufacturer of high-end office furniture

MillerKnoll, Inc., doing business as Herman Miller, is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Its best known designs include the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, Mirra chair, and the Eames Lounge Chair. Herman Miller is also credited with the 1968 invention of the office cubicle under then-director of research Robert Propst.

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The Egg is a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is manufactured by Republic of Fritz Hansen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988</span> United Kingdom law

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, also known as the CDPA, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 15 November 1988. It reformulates almost completely the statutory basis of copyright law in the United Kingdom, which had, until then, been governed by the Copyright Act 1956 (c. 74). It also creates an unregistered design right, and contains a number of modifications to the law of the United Kingdom on Registered Designs and patents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitra (furniture)</span> Swiss furniture company

Vitra is a Swiss family-owned furniture company with headquarters in Birsfelden, Switzerland. It is the manufacturer of the works of many furniture designers. Vitra is also known for the works of notable architects that make up its premises in Weil am Rhein, Germany, in particular the Vitra Design Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish design</span>

Danish design is a style of functionalistic design and architecture that was developed in mid-20th century. Influenced by the German Bauhaus school, many Danish designers used the new industrial technologies, combined with ideas of simplicity and functionalism to design buildings, furniture and household objects, many of which have become iconic and are still in use and production. Prominent examples are the Egg chair, the PH lamps and the Sydney Opera House (Australia).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish modern</span> Style of furniture

Danish modern is a style of minimalist furniture and housewares from Denmark associated with the Danish design movement. In the 1920s, Kaare Klint embraced the principles of Bauhaus modernism in furniture design, creating clean, pure lines based on an understanding of classical furniture craftsmanship coupled with careful research into materials, proportions, and the requirements of the human body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Børge Mogensen</span> Danish furniture designer (1914–1972)

Børge Mogensen, was a Danish furniture designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aksel Bender Madsen</span> Danish furniture designer

Aksel Bender Madsen was a Danish furniture designer who worked closely together with Ejner Larsen (1917-1987) producing a wide variety of items during the Danish modern period.

Arne Vodder was a Danish furniture designer, a close friend and partner of Finn Juhl who had been his teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolf Fehlbaum</span> Swiss businessman

Rolf Fehlbaum is chairman emeritus and active member of the board of directors of Vitra, a family-owned furniture company with headquarters in Birsfelden, Switzerland.

In the 2017 Supreme Court case. Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc., it was ruled that Fashion design can be covered by copyright.

...an artistic feature of the design of a useful article is eligible for copyright protection if the feature (1) can be perceived as a two- or three-dimensional work of art separate from the useful article and (2) would qualify as a protectable pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work either on its own or in some other medium if imagined separately from the useful article.

Fashion design copyright refers to the web of domestic and international laws that protect unique clothing or apparel designs. The roots of fashion design copyright may be traced in Europe to as early as the 15th century.

References

  1. "The UK replica furniture market will be hit by new copyright laws". Independent.co.uk . 15 February 2016.
  2. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404525/Transitional_provisions_for_the_repeal_of_section_52_of_the_CDPA__2_.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. "Fury as customers 'lose thousands of pounds on designer furniture site". TheGuardian.com . 15 May 2014.