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December 09, 2004
Corporate Identity Theft
The international marketplace has a new danger for small businesses to be aware of as reported in this story about AbroIndustries (a small seller of glues, tapes and epoxies that employs 24) in StartupJournal.
"Abro's two-year fight with Hunan Magic Power Industrial Co. (a Chinese Company) marks a new twist in the annals of international trademark piracy. Hunan Magic isn't just knocking off a few of Abro's products. It's acting as though it is AbroIndustries. 'This is attempted identity theft at a corporate level.'"
Fighting the bad guys in this case does not come easy--or cheap.
"AbroIndustries...has hired dozens of lawyers and investigators, sued Hunan Magic, and gotten raids conducted in the United Arab Emirates and other countries, at a cost to Abro so far this year of more than $600,000...."
And the battle will not end if they prevail against Hunan Magic. There is now a South American company gearing up operations to produce and market fake Abro products.
Posted December 9, 2004 05:10 AM
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at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. He consults with a variety of businesses on start-up and growth related issues, and with larger corporations on re-establishing entrepreneurial cultures within their organizations. Dr. Cornwall's current research interests include entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurial ethics. He has authored or co-authored four books.
