The design world's equivalent of the Olympic Games or the Venetian Biennale is the annual Plagiarius award. As Action Plagiarius
explains:
""Innovation vs. Imitation - Plagiarius” accuses imitators for their unimaginative and shameless behaviour!
Initiated already back in 1977 by Prof. Rido Busse, the negative award "Plagiarius" serves to inform the public about the problem of fakes and plagiarisms and the negative impacts they have on not only the economy as a whole, but also on small companies and designers. Action Plagiarius awards the negative award at the annual “Ambiente” trade fair during a press conference. The award is given to those companies that the jury has found guilty of making "the most flagrant" design imitations. As his key figure, Busse chose a gnome, which he painted black with a gold nose to signify the “illicit earnings from product imitation”.
Admittedly, there is no progress and development without referring to already existing patterns, ideas and rules. However what counts is the willingness to develop the existing and give it an individual and distinctive style. The imitators pursue one goal only: to profit at the expense of the hard work of others – and this affects the creatives and the consumers likewise.
They copy successful products thereby not only saving on expensive costs for R&D and marketing, but also in production costs by outsourcing the production to foreign countries where the cost is much lower resulting in sometimes lower quality products which ultimately is at the expense of the consumer. In some industries such as toys, technical/electronic products or medication the poor quality can even be fatal".
If you'd like a be a Registrator for the competition, you can find the registration form
here. There are cut-off dates for nominations on 2 November and 3 December. Last year's winning entries can be viewed
here. Class 99's tip: if you want to stand a good chance of winning in 2011, why not just copy one of last year's winners ...?
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