Bad Actor
A website called ModernReproductions[dot]com seems to be in the habit of stealing copyrighted photographs to sell counterfeit furniture. They use Fritz Hansen’s images of Arne Jacobsen’s Egg chair to sell their knockoff version, Zanotta’s photograph of the Onda sofa is appropriated to sell a cheap fake, and Artifort’s own images of the Orange Slice chair are being used to peddle a pirated copy.
They even stole this iconic image of Aarnio’s Bubble Chair from Adelta to sell a fake. Hope they have a model release.
Intentionally infringing copyrighted photographs carries a potential criminal penalty of $500,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison for the first offense.
They also violate the trademarked names for many of the products sold on their site. I guess once you start stealing it’s hard to stop.
Their FAQs try to rationalize their behavior by stating that all furniture is “nothing but a copy”. Really? They mean every manufactured product is a copy of an “original” prototype. So every Corvette is a “copy” and only the hand sculpted clay model is the “original”. REALLY!
We won’t link you to these counterfeiters but here are the inks to the real thing.
Fritz Hansen, Zanotta, Artifort, Adelta
Tags: counterfeits, Fakes and Frauds, knockoffs, trademark
