Indepth Arts News:
"China Steals Nukes, and Counterfeits American Crafts!"
1999-07-25 until 1999-07-25
Made in the USA Foundation: American Crafts Project
Washington, DC,
USA United States of America
Target Stores are selling counterfeit American Crafts, charged the
Made in the USA Foundation in a complaint filed with the International
Trade Commission March 26, 1999. According to the craft artist, T. M. Hoff
of New Paltz, New York, Target Stores ordered one of his pottery lanterns a
few years ago and sent it to China to have cheap copies reproduced.
The Made in the USA Foundation has joined T.M. Hoff Handmade in
filing the complaint with the International Trade Commission. Joel D.
Joseph, chairman of the Foundation said, We have let China walk all over
us. China steals our nuclear weapons and missile technology and illegally
copies our intellectual property. From movies and music to software and
even craftwork, China has no respect for our copyrights, trademarks and
patents.
According to Hoff, Dayton Hudson (parent of Target) ordered samples
for product evaluation in 1996. Two years later, cheap Chinese copies
began appearing in Target Stores across the United States. Mr. Hoff added:
An organization as large as Dayton Hudson should pay a product designer
for the goods they sell. In our case it copied the design of our most
important product and offered us nothing in return. We are a four-person
studio business operating out of our home. I guess they thought we were
too small to fight back.
The complaint seeks to have the counterfeit goods seized and
destroyed. T.M. Hoff and the Made in the USA Foundation also seek to
prohibit the importation of these counterfeit lanterns. The Foundation
working with the Rosen Group, Inc and AmericanStyle Magazine has
established the American Crafts Project to assist craft artists when their
works are copied overseas.
For more information call:
Joel D. Joseph Wendy Rosen
American Crafts Project AmericanStyle Magazine
202.822.0197 410.889.3093
Made in the USA Foundation
American Crafts Project
1828 L Street NW #1000
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: 202.822.6062
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