Mukonitronics, a local electronics manufacturer – one of the few in Africa who design and manufacture industrial and consumer power products – contacted us recently to let us know they are currently fighting off clones from China. The company, whose founder we interviewed on this blog some time back, is known locally for durable surge protectors called M-Tron. According to them, this is the product that’s being cloned in China at a fraction of the cost that makes the genuine product appear needlessly expensive.
According to Mukonitronics, the local market has flooded with fake Mukonitronics surge protectors prompting the company to seek legal protection of their product patents. The company has since secured a High Court injuction order allowing them the right to search premises of infringing businesses and to seize the surge protectors as evidence without prior warning. Mukonitronics, we’re told, has so far been able to seize fake surge protectors worth about US $120,000 and will be using the evidence to sue perpetrators.
According to Mukonitronics, they are using Zimbabwe’s Industrial Designs Act (Chapter 26:02) to sue the local companies involved in bringing in the fake products. You can download the act here.
The case will be one of the few to be heard locally involving the infringement of designs of a local company by people sources from China. The victims of fake Chinese electronics products have so far been large global corporations like Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Phillips and others. The issue of cloning has therefore actually been treated by the mainstream as a “good” (yes, we know it sounds crazy) thing that allows them to access a cheaper version of very expensive innovations. People generally express the same sentiments with software where people feel they are somehow justified to download and use fake software as, being in Africa, they can’t be expected fork out for such stuff.
The truth is cloning hurts the companies that invest in the Research and Development to innovate and create new value. It will be interesting how the case develops at the courts and what, whatever the outcome, effect it will have on the flooding in of the fakes.
Image via Mukonitronics Facebook Page
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11 comments
Chinese, Chinese, Chinese…. but our local firms are also supposed to ramp up marketing efforts and lower prices a bit… this 100% profit margin is not good for a poor country like Zimbabwe
you are right the Jews say small profit margins scares competitors away and keep you in business. our mentality locally is you have to recover everything with one sale. regarding the chineses, the measures they are taking now confisicating fake imitations is good, at least it is a consolation. Samsung I think are the worst hit at the moment with fake s4, s3, note 2 galaxies going for between 50 and hundred at Gulf Complex. ready with android 4, and this is only Zimbabwe…chinese chinese, this is not innovation, it is stealing, outright stealing
Mukonitronics surge protectors are reasonably priced and give you value for your money.They even have a service policy. If defective they can replace or repair at no cost. I personally recommend them for your electronic devices.
They don’t need to reduce price at all. I support them 100%!
Lets BING BONG the ZHING ZHONG!
proudly zimbo, we should all play our part, one purchase at a time. cheap is not always worth it. Who has ever opened a chinese manufactured extension or plug, not safe at all, buy cheap and you come home to find it burned down due to an electrical fault or short circuit, do we not have a standards control, we need to jealously guard or industries.They (friends of the east) .come from their native land poor,walk to work but when they land on our soil,they drive the latest cars #Fact. im not being political,if it sounds that way ,my apologies, i just would like to see ZIMBABWEANS prospering, instead of buying that tin of imported baked beans, buy the Zim baked beans or the zim vinegar,our shelves are flooded with SA products, their should be a quota or some sorta system implemented,where a retailer can only import and sell so much of imported products.BUT our local producers need to play ball, its a 2 way relationship, their prices must also drop..I duno, wat do yal say and think
Finally, someone is acting. its sad that Zimbabweans have given in to fake alternatives for everything. millions out there are being deceived with fake goods, form poor quality kitchenware to incredibly cheap “IPhone 5″s, and one i recently came across…a blatant copy of the Mercedes Benz S class, a ssanyong, or whatever it’s called… whats most disturbing is that most people don’t mind, as long as they have a product that does what they want, regardless of how durable it is
Just have to comment: SSanyong is a now gone Korean manufacturer that was supported by Merc, they have Merc engines actually (at least the 4-wheel drives had)
I 100% support Mukonitronics. Their surge protectors are worth every cent as most rainy seasons powerlines near my house a plagued with lightning strikes and even tree branches falling onto the powerlines causing quiet the spectacular surges and not once has their surge protectors failed to protect my beloved electronics.
+1
ditto that
Where is the local standards body in all this? SAZ run quarterly ISO certification audits for their members etc. Is the Mtron IP and is it manufactured using ISO standards? Mukonitronics could use this angle to fend off the chinese trash flooding Zimbabwe presently.
the gvt must be proud of local business and try to protect their interest jealously from these fake products.