Designer and inventor Alex Gransbury saw his award-winning citrus juicer reproduced in a $5 knock-off – and there’s not much he can do about dupe culture.
Alex Gransbury has been inventing for over two decades. The first iteration of his Brisbane-based business, before it was a full team of designers, was Gransbury tinkering in his mother’s garage, devising ways to improve on common household tools. There was a spatula with a serrated cutting edge that chops and stands on its own, a whisk that lies flat, a champagne cork popper and a remarkably efficient garlic mincer.
, is increasing foot traffic and market share. MCoBeauty, valued at $1 billion, is the top-selling cosmetics brand at Woolworths and Big W. “Where does that end? Are we going to it in Canada, Japan, New Zealand? No one can afford to do this,” said Gransbury. It’s difficult to know how much to invest in patenting, as those fees have to be paid before the product hits the market, he added. Then there is an issue of jurisdiction: registering a patent in Australia doesn’t prevent your design being copied in another country.A spokesperson for Kmart said the company created products that “align back to global trends that we are seeing” for “the lowest possible price”.
The consequence of “patent avoidance” is a very low level of IP export, or the number of Australians protecting and taking their inventions overseas. Merely 8.1 per cent of more than 31,500 patentsIn straightforward terms, Australians are losing out on our own turf. “It might appear that we in Australia are using the IP rights system to enrich other countries,” the review stated.Patent attorney Andrew Caska recommends setting aside $5000 to $10,000 over four years to apply for a patent.
The review’s 16 recommendations have not been implemented by either government in office since it was released. Industry and Resources Minister Ed Husic declined to comment when contacted by this masthead, as did opposition spokesperson Sussan Ley’s office.
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