Refrigeration Test Equipment
Uniweld is a small family-owned manufacturing company based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that manufactures testing instruments used by technicians in the refrigeration industry to determine the condition of air conditioning and refrigeration systems. The company, founded in 1949, began selling its products into the Middle East and in time became the leader in its particular market in the region.
Uniweld has registered its trademark in six countries in the Middle East and in 17 other countries in the world, but is finding that the trademark registrations are not protecting it against illicit copies of its products. The company is now losing $1 million a year in sales due to counterfeit products that are manufactured in China and sold in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The products were packaged just like the originals and used Uniweld’s name, part numbers, address and instruction sheets that included Uniweld’s name, address and phone number and an image of the American flag. The products sold in the UAE were offered in retail shops at half the price Uniweld charges its distributors.
“Not only are we losing business, but also the quality of the counterfeit product is so poor that our hard-earned reputation for producing a quality product is being destroyed in one of the most promising market places in the world,” David Pearl, Uniweld’s executive vice president said in testimony before the House of Representatives in June 2005, where he represented the National Association of Manufacturers.
