Thursday, June 11th 2009
German Reseller Stakes Claim to Several Brand Names, Targets Competitors
In EU, a land that worships fair market practices, that recently booked two of the biggest names in the IT industry (Intel, Microsoft) for anti-competitive market malpractices, and penalized them for billions of Dollars, one would expect high standards of business practices. Apparently one has to peel the onion to find it's not all that fresh inside. Aquatuning, a German reseller has found an interesting way of locking its competitors out, of pretty much everything it does. The store deals in high-performance PC component cooling products, such as water-cooling components. In order to make sure nobody else in the country sells what it does, the company is registering the brands its sells, under its own name.
For example, the store sells DangerDen products. DangerDen is an American company, which has its brand name and company logo (trademark) registered in the US (which apparently must be respected in all countries where it sells its merchandise). Aquatuning "registered" the name in Germany, and stakes claim to it. This prohibits other resellers to source the product. This, because it fears another company would do the same to it. It doesn't stop here. The retailer already sent a cease-and-desist letter to a competitor.
The original owners of the brands, such as Bitspower, Danger Den, Koolance, Swiftech, Thermochill, XSPC, etc., are being served with different stories on why their brand names were re-registered outside US, without permission, a known reason being the one earlier mentioned. The move prevents other retailers from selling the same products, stifling competition. Aquatuning could hold the power to dictate prices in Germany, unless action is taken by the trademark holders, or the law of the land.
Source:
HardOCP
For example, the store sells DangerDen products. DangerDen is an American company, which has its brand name and company logo (trademark) registered in the US (which apparently must be respected in all countries where it sells its merchandise). Aquatuning "registered" the name in Germany, and stakes claim to it. This prohibits other resellers to source the product. This, because it fears another company would do the same to it. It doesn't stop here. The retailer already sent a cease-and-desist letter to a competitor.
The original owners of the brands, such as Bitspower, Danger Den, Koolance, Swiftech, Thermochill, XSPC, etc., are being served with different stories on why their brand names were re-registered outside US, without permission, a known reason being the one earlier mentioned. The move prevents other retailers from selling the same products, stifling competition. Aquatuning could hold the power to dictate prices in Germany, unless action is taken by the trademark holders, or the law of the land.
28 Comments on German Reseller Stakes Claim to Several Brand Names, Targets Competitors
Now What?:shadedshu
I will NOT buy their products. (Even if they are incredibly cool looking and well made.)
They still sell genuine stuff.
there wont be any competitors left!!
Acual Photo --> :banghead:
Edit: Apparently the only source now:mad: All the other shops either only have Reserators, or too few products to choose from.
Thing is I need gear now, and where else am I gonna get it?
For all of those who said that the E.U. was just going for a money grab by suing Intel and M.S., we will now get to see if you were right.
This is a deliberate attempt to control supply and therefore prices. The same courts that came down on Intel/M.S., should now apply the same yard stick to this company.
On the other hand, it is nice to see that all out greed it not just a North American trait. The day I read a headline that states "Company finds loophole in law, reports it to Feds so that it can be closed and fair competition can continue", I'll know for sure that hell really is frozen over.
And just for the record, I'm not saying I think Microsoft and Intel were in the right with their business practices, that isn't an issue here. What I'm saying is that if rules and regulations are going to be applied to Microsoft and Intel, they need to apply to everyone.
If Microsoft isn't allowed to bundle their media player software with their OS, then Apple shouldn't be able to either, the whole iLife suite shouldn't be allowed to be bundled with OSX.
If Intel isn't allowed to make exclusivity deals, then AMD shouldn't either, and you better believe AMD made exlcusivity deals, or at least tried to.
"All your products belong to us", salutes the CEO of Aquatuning.
PS. There are NOT 3 CEOs!
i am from Alphacool, i just wanted to say, that Alphacool and Aquatuning are 2 different and independet companies. There are no joint possession and no collective leadership. Mr Rudnicki is by Aquatuning since he has left the company in the mid of 2006.
We distance our self from this affair.
Greetings
Imagine: what if i were to re-register Coca-Cola here in Portugal so that only i could sell it?
To me, this is totally idiotic and should not be allowed. Why don't the competition (other stores) gang up and sue Aquatuning for malpractices? I mean: isn't this against the law, in Germany?
As for Switzerland, they really are the store with the most variety of parts.
SO if they really operate illegaly, they do it big style in six countries, and just one of them noticed by now?
nah... f that, that's unfair. rather, I hope someone destroys all the people involved in this here scheme.