National Cargo Bike Summit,
London
31 March 2023
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Worktech Sydney - EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF WORK AND THE WORKPLACE,
Sydney
04 April 2023
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Workspace Expo,
Paris
04 April 2023
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IFMA’s Facility Fusion® Conference & Expo,
San Franciso
11 April 2023
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"FIXING WORK" - a webinar with Neil Usher,
Online
12 April 2023
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Workplace Trends Research Summit,
London
19 April 2023
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Creative clusters, and next steps for growth and innovation in the creative industries,
London
19 April 2023
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CIBSE Technical Symposium,
Glasgow
20 April 2023
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November 5, 2014
Why isn’t the UK Government acting to curb the scandal of fake furniture?
by Tony Ash • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design
The real thing
If you’ve watched a DVD recently, it probably started with an advert highlighting that ‘you wouldn’t steal a handbag, so why would you steal a DVD?’ The point it’s making is that it’s unacceptable to buy poor quality copies of DVDs. They’re fake products and there’s a stigma attached to them, in the same way there’s a stigma attached to buying a fake watch, handbag or a forged piece of art. That’s how things should work, but this isn’t yet the case for fake furniture in the UK. And the reason for this is government inaction that is not only allowing a market for poorer quality replicas of iconic designs to exist, but to thrive. In April 2013 the UK government passed the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, a section of which closed a loophole in British intellectual property law. Under the new regulations, artistic designs for products such as furniture would be protected for up to 70 years after the designer’s death. Before the Act was passed, if more than 50 copies of a design were made, it was considered to be mass produced and was subject to only 25 years’ protection.
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