I was astounded to read that Claire’s Accessories have released a range of jewellery that replicates, perfectly, several necklaces by Tatty Devine. The multi-million pound retailer has not even attempted to alter the designs of this independent British business, and has simply reproduced them, correct to the last detail.
In Claire’s, of course, they are far cheaper. Not only have Claire’s acted immorally by presenting another company's work as its own, it has benefited financially from stolen ideas and potentially damaged the reputation of an innovative, hard-working smaller business. In a time of recession, when we are in desperate need of new business start ups to boost the economy, this appears not only illegal but totally unethical.
Claire’s PR strategy is to completely ignore and immediately delete the thousands of complaints which are flooding its facebook page, although it has little power over blogs, twitter and other social networking platforms. Tatty Devine has stated on its website that that it will be taking legal advice. However, in the murky world of intellectual copyright, it is sadly unlikely that any case they bring will succeed.
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