Supports Plastic Pincho, a family business from Elche, had the happy idea 8 years ago to patent an invention for one of the biggest headaches of any swimmer who came to the beach with his family: place the umbrella without the possibility of falling whatever the wind does. The product, which holds an international patent and is sold by the leading trademarks of Spain and Europe, especially in the tourist markets in the sun, is still relatively inexpensive due to its manufacture, which makes it particularly interesting and even easy to copy.
This summer, unfair competition After the National Police Corps seized hundreds of copies of its skewer and more important production patterns from two warehouses on two estates in Crevillent seven days ago, it calculated that it had cost the firm 600,000 euros. Up to 2,200 of these parts can be done daily, according to witnesses. if someone calculates this season started in june This damage figure is reached because of the statements made by the Police Department, the company that sells them fraudulently distributes approximately 900 pieces per day.
Popular beach skewers are sold, which the Elche merchant continues to develop and modify to avoid patenting and allowing something similar but not the same. wide range of well-known brands, but copies were being distributed through large multi-price stores in other provinces and from there to small “all in 100” stores, as well as many tourist or beach product businesses. The copy had almost the same utility, but not the same quality, and in addition to the economic damage caused by losing a portion of the sale of a patented product, there is always the loss of image received because the end customer did not buy it. faithful product.
The company learned about counterfeiting last July through something as simple as walking into a store and seeing a skewer that was a true replica of it being sold wholesale. less than three euros. With years of experience with such duplication problems, the company went to a researcher from Elche because with the season coming our rush was to identify what was going on. where they are produced and where they paralyze activity. The researcher pulled the rope and found two warehouses in Crevillent, one of which parts were manufactured and the other distributed throughout Spain. All that was left was to deliver these facts and all the evidence obtained by the hired professional into the hands of the Police Station. Last Tuesday, August 30, agencies National Police Corps They made two recordings showing complaints with jurisdiction. 1,400 fake skewers and cardboard for the sale of the product were seized in one, and found in the second. two molds for production.
in some expressions 18 pointed pallets were delivered to Mallorca this summer, with many more being distributed by multi-priced product distribution warehouses. Juan Carlos Almira, the director of the company and son of the inventor of this happy summer solution product, which has created a prosperous business at Elche in less than a decade, assures that they already have a lot of experience with this type of problem. “We usually see 5,000 or 6,000 skewers coming in, mostly from China, but we got them to stop production through our lawyer. and understand that we have this patented product,” explains Plastic Supports, the person in charge of Pincho. Now they just always have to wait for slow and cumbersome judgment instructions.