Front End I News
Cliff Electronics wins court case over counterfeit products
CLIFF Electronics, (Cliff UK) a UK designer and manufacturer of components and connectors for audio, engineering, instrumentation, medical, lighting and vending applications has won a long and complex court case to protect its trademark and products sold in the USA from counterfeiting. Four years ago Cliff Electronics
discovered that a Cliff-branded product returned under complaint from an end user was not manufactured by an authorised Cliff company or in any Cliff production facility. As a result the company launched an investigation and discovered that the product had been cloned by Cliff Hong Kong and marketed by Cliff Electronic Components, Inc., which was at that time Cliff UK’s official distributor in the USA. Cliff UK has always been fiercely protective of its trademark and products, their quality and the reputation of the company and this discovery resulted in changing the manner of distribution in the USA and the formation of the current authorised USA distributor, Cliff Inc.
As the investigation continued Cliff UK
discovered other cloned products that were being sold under the CLIFF brand name and also that counterfeit Cliff drawings were being used to give a false impression of their provenance and quality. Cliff UK also discovered the sources of manufacture and tracked the companies involved, despite name changes and other measures used to cloud the origins of these counterfeit products. The result was several years of legal
proceedings in the USA concluding with a
said; ”Not only has Cliff lost substantial direct sales in the USA but there has been alot of confusion caused by the misuse of the Cliff brand in the USA, Europe and Asia.” Throughout this period Cliff has striven
to ensure that its customers were not adversely affected and made great efforts to keep both its customers and markets advised, individually by direct notification and collectively via notices on its website and through other publicity. Cliff UK products are mainly used in
professional and high quality equipment and it has been of the utmost importance to the company to minimize any problems caused by counterfeit products. In some cases Cliff UK replaced failing cloned or counterfeit Cliff-branded products with genuine products free of charge. It is a popular belief that the use of counterfeit products causes only quality or reliability problems, but just as important is the issue of invalidating Approvals Files and Certifications if non-approved components are substituted.
Speaking to CIE Hall said that court action, although costly, had been vital in demonstrating the company’s commitment to preventing further counterfeiting and in protecting customers.
recent judgment completely in the favour of Cliff Electronics on all points. Cliff UK is now awaiting the ruling on injunctive relief, damages and penalties to be awarded against Cliff Electronic Components, Inc., and its president,
Andrew Brunt, whom the judge ruled is personally liable for all damages to Cliff UK. Cliff is continuing to pursue all other companies and individuals involved. Commenting after the announcement John Hall, General Manager of Cliff UK
For companies finding themselves in a similar situation Hall suggested they, ”Get a good lawyer in the US and ensure they have sufficient funds in case legal action is required. And while you can’t stop counterfeiting let the world know when, like Cliff, you win a court action. Costs against those found guilty can be immense and should be seen as a deterrent.”
Report urges UK investment in thermoelectrics and the role of nanotechnology
The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) one of the UK’s primary knowledge-based networks for Micro and Nanotechnologies, has published a Position Paper, following on from a workshop held last year to explore emerging technologies and opportunities in the development of next generation thermoelectric and thermionic devices. According to the Paper while the thermal energy harvesting market (and solid state cooling) represents a global £1bn industry for improved products in a range of markets and applications, barriers do exist to widespread adoption. However, the Paper concluded that nanotechnology offers the potential for new approaches and a shift in performance through nanomaterials development, nanostructuring, nano- and microelectronic devices and thin film technologies.
4 February 2012
The Paper was the result of an event held in April 2011 and hosted, in partnership with Johnson Matthey and the Royal Holloway University of London. The market pull for harvesting waste
recovery is growing, led primarily by the automotive sector. The Paper concludes that significant new market opportunities could open up if a new generation of higher efficiency and more sustainable materials were developed, e.g. in harvesting: automotive and HGV exhaust heat, solar thermal energy, high temperature industrial processes, powering sensors and remote off-grid domestic electricity generation. Since the heat already exists and is free, the cost payback time should be the key measure to evaluate these systems.
“The UK is uniquely positioned with leading players over the entire supply chain required to produce and deploy this
Components in Electronics
new generation of energy system. To date, harvesting energy hasn’t had that much attention but now this is changing as people realise a huge amount of heat is being lost. Harvesting energy from wasted heat is both a technical and economic opportunity with the current global market of thermoelectric devices estimated to be around $300m. If the technical challenges can be overcome then the potential applications are extremely wide and the potential market could be worth billions and help to create a host of highly skilled jobs in both science and engineering.” explained Dr Martin Kemp, Theme Manager, NanoKTN.
The position paper makes four key
recommendations for the UK covering strategic direction, research funding of technologies and applications, and networking.
Currently, the major market pull for this technology is from the automotive industry, but other sectors such as space and the built environment may emerge as strong drivers. Energy scavenging will also be important in miniaturized electronic devices such as MEMS and self powered sensor networks, and could feature as part of a combined heat and power (CHP) system, with thermoelectric generators providing significant energy for domestic and commercial buildings. Other key industries would be in power generation, either in using the sun’s energy for domestic solar thermal and lighting systems, or harvesting the waste heat generated by power stations, or electronics and supercomputers. The report concludes by arguing that while there were significant opportunities to develop valuable IP in thermoelectric materials and surrounding device-related technologies and systems, and although the UK has world class research in thermoelectrics, it was likely to be held back by its limited manufacturing capability. New materials using nanotechnology could address cost, efficiency, toxicity and sustainability issues.
www.cieonline.co.uk
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