FOCUS Online 7.6 billion Euro per year, the German mechanical engineering industry is losing solely because of piracy, says the industry Association VDMA. The companies protect themselves not sufficient?

Constantin Rehaag : of Course the German machine Builder, register their patents in the relevant markets. The same is true for other property rights such as trademarks. But a replica machine will be sold to former customers or in other markets. Because you have to get as Damaged from the fake Wind and also the relevant market – in China, for example, can be relatively easily in large-scale plagiarism expel, without the right holder finds out about it.

FOCUS Online The German manufacturers sales go flutes, but that's not even everything, is it?

Rehaag: First of all, it is, in fact, the financial damage: The order, a other company, is plagiarism well enough, the market share permanently lost. In addition, the machine manufacturer has no way to earn it with Service, enhancements and Software Updates and to maintain its relationships with customers. This counterfeit business is gone.

In the case of particularly vicious fakes - so technically inferior machines that are placed wrongly under the origin brand in the traffic - leads the plagiarism in addition to significant reputational damage. And it must not be forgotten that piracy Know-how flows.

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FOCUS Online especially the latter affects the location of Germany is negative.

Rehaag: Know-how will be lost If us, result in very significant losses. Then it's not called "the best machines come from Germany," but "these machines you can also in China or elsewhere to buy". Replicas lead to a dilution of the good German Name in the field of technology. In the long term, Germans Were to lose its appeal for potential buyers.

FOCUS Online : you will see in a crisis like the present Coronavirus pandemic of human life due to product piracy.

Rehaag : plagiarism is not limited to mechanical engineering. We see now that counterfeiting can be life-threatening - for example, defective masks that are not certified entitled. In crisis situations such as the Virus-pandemic we will pay with human lives, the issue of product piracy has no place on the Agenda of the policy. It's not just a fake machine. In particular, pharmaceutical companies are fighting since time immemorial, with fakes, because they know how dangerous this can be. And in the context of the pandemic, the illegal offers to take, of course: fake pharmaceuticals are in circulation, but also counterfeit preparations, which have not yet been included in the clinical studies.

Here it often goes to organised crime, much branched gangs with well-established structures. So I can only hope that the Coronavirus changes the point of view of the policy on the issue of product piracy. It must be harder to be against criminal gangs followed, so that in times of crisis, the effect of brand and product piracy by consumers and businesses is not harder than under normal circumstances, is true.

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FOCUS Online : What options do I have as the Injured party, in order to combat counterfeiting?

Rehaag : You can civil procedure law, so that the violation of a property right is, for example, of a patent, immediately below. A protection right is violated intentionally, one may also proceed criminally against it, it then meets a criminal offence. These opportunities are there in Germany, but also in large Parts of the European Union or in China. But you must see also: Not all countries have such a high quality of the prosecution authorities. There are often complex cases of economic crime, in all countries, prosecutors and judges on the prosecution, or treatment of these matters well prepared.

FOCUS Online : When I start a process, how good the chances of success?

Rehaag: If I mandates after weighing all the facts, to be a procedure, criminal or civil law rate, then we have a very high success rate. But of course, the procedure can be expensive, and until a judgment is issued, it may take. Faster the provisional legal protection, can not be always taken in the claim is. Sometimes you need a long breath to combat the injuries sustained.

And the counterfeiters are clever: they use the globalization as well as the manufacturers of the originals – you leave in a country, have the account in another, and sell in the third and keep himself in the fourth.

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FOCUS Online : This is water on the mills of the anti-globalisation, leiden.

Rehaag : globalisation is not only a weak spot in the fight against brand and product piracy, if we create the right conditions. In other countries it might need a somewhat lower degree of confidence in the loyalty of a business partner. In many countries, the employees are not paid so well, the wage level is low, there can then be a source of revenue through counterfeiting is lucrative and the risk of persecution is taken into account.

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