This & That, Ceci et Cela

When big companies copy goods made by entrepreneurs.

Target, Kmart, GMAC and the Pottery Barn are all corporate giants accused of modifying product samples from entrepreneurs looking for their big break, then manufacturing large quantities overseas and undercutting the price – essentially running the smaller competition out of business. In fact, furniture designers, woodworkers and other artisans are allegedly so weary of Pottery Barn’s practices that company buyers are forced to hide their nametags at trade shows before approaching displayers.
June/03 update:
Even more small business owners have come forward with their stories.  E.g.
Sheila Kuster, the co-owner of Belle Mead Hot Glass in Hillsborough, N.J., called us to report that she, too, has been ripped off. For the past 11 years Kuster has sold her hand-blown glass creations to places like Saks Fifth Avenue and Gardener’s Eden without any problems. Then she started dealing with Smith & Hawken, which requested that she send samples of her company’s signature hummingbird blown-glass bird feeder. Almost a year after the deal fell through, Kuster discovered her feeder in the Smith & Hawken catalog and stores. It was made in Poland but otherwise identical to hers–her best friend of 15 years bought one at Smith & Hawken thinking it was Kuster’s product. She also called on the Made in the USA Foundation for help with a lawsuit.  “We don’t engage in that practice, and we’re fighting the lawsuit,” says Lisa Bayne, Smith & Hawken’s vice president of marketing.

Good peeps to know in such situations: Made in the USA Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, MD that sues on behalf of aggrieved entrepreneurs.  It is helping to level the playing field.

Since establishing their American Crafts Project to assist craft artists when their works are copied overseas, foundation founder and general counsel Joel D. Joseph estimates that at any one time he has twenty cases in court.

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