Newspaper press maker manroland has taken the German engineering federation VDMA’s ‘Pro Original’ campaign against counterfeit spare parts to China. Working with local authorities, it took legal steps against companies involved with copies of its machine parts at the All in Print trade show in Shanghai. The company says trading in counterfeit spare parts and printing press components not only causes enormous economic damage worldwide to manufacturers, but can cause lasting impact on a printing system’s life cycle. Under the VDMA’s ‘Original technology pays off’ message, it proclaims the benefits of investing in original technology, “always an advantage for printing and publishing companies”. Georg Riescher, vice president of manroland’s newspaper printing systems business unit in Plauen, Germany, says manufacturers such as his guarantee durability and long service life of their products, enabling customers to turn out quality products. “Only original technology ensures an optimum price/performance ratio and gives the customer decisive competitive advantages,” he says. He says the fight against pirate copies and faked machine parts ranks high in priority for manroland. “As a company affected by this, we make full use of the legal opportunities available in combating product pirates and protecting intellectual property rights,” he says. “For one thing, this is in our very own interests, for another, it is the only way in which we can effectively protect our customers and potential new customers.” Using spare and wearing parts of questionable origin can endanger a customer’s warranty rights, with the manufacturer declining liability for any damage to a system caused by use of counterfeit parts. • This brochure was part of manroland’s campaign at All in Print in Shanghai.