The Johannesburg High Court struck another blow for the protection of consumer rights recently after restraining a South African wholesaler from passing off imported Chinese products as those made by a South African manufacturer.
Last month the court ruled against local importer and wholesaler Tedelex Trading with legal costs, preventing them from passing off wall-mounted panel heaters made in China as the product of South African manufacturer, Econo-Heat.
"Econo-Heat's court victory endorses why the National Consumer Protection Act needs to be enacted. The Act places a huge responsibility on suppliers to behave in a responsible manner and without companies like us that are willing to fight for what is right and to protect our customers against misleading information, this example of a Chinese product that has been passed off as a trusted, locally manufactured original product, could merely have remained as another example of the unsuspecting consumer being misled," said Econo-Heat's marketing manager Johan du Preez.
Over the past two decades Econo-Heat's locally invented and manufactured wall-mounted panel heaters have acquired a reputation around the country for their quality and economic heating efficiency.
In terms of the court order, the stores selling the Chinese product have also been restrained from selling the Chinese copy in boxes confusingly similar to those of Econo-Heat said Pieter Bräsler, Econo-Heat director.
Tedelex, part of the JSE listed Amalgamated Appliances Group, previously sold the locally manufactured Econo-Heat panel heater under its Salton brand to some local retailers and the rest of the market was supplied by the manufacturer under its own Econo-Heat brand. Econo-Heat ended its Supplier Agreement with Tedelex in 2009 upon which Tedelex obtained a Chinese imitation panel heater and continued supplying some of the South African retailers during the winter season with this imitation copy imported from China under the Salton brand - but in a look-a-like Econo-Heat box with identical wording.
Evidence before the Court was that not only was the packaging confusingly similar but that the offending products were stacked together with Econo-Heat's in stores even bearing almost identical product coded references, both under the Salton brand.
"Econo-Heat received complaints from the public that they were being misled into believing that the Chinese imports were the real South African product and that shop assistants were mistakenly advising customers that the products were from the same South African source, but merely different models," said Bräsler.
"We are delighted with the outcome of the case and believe it wrong that our copyright laws allow competitors to blatantly copy local products, have them made cheaply overseas and yet sell them at the same retail prices, thereby damaging the South African economy and threatening jobs."
Bräsler said Econo-Heat's wall-mounted panel heaters have been market leaders for many years and that consumers look for the Econo-Heat trademark to ensure they are buying proudly South African goods.
