Dog bedding specialist Charley Chau, has appeared on BBC One Daytime legal show Northern Justice, discussing their experiences of the legal topic of Intellectual Property.
Northern Justice explores what happens when ordinary people facing all sorts of extraordinary times in their lives turn to local lawyers in their hour of need. The series uses first-person testimony from both lawyer and client to tell personal, emotional and compelling stories of people in dire straits and the legal professionals that step in to find ways the justice system can save them. Northern Justice spoke to Christine Chau, Co-Founder of luxury dog bedding company Charley Chau, about their challenges in protecting and defending their intellectual property rights alongside Niall Head Rapson, Director of McDaniels Law, a specialist intellectual property law firm that represents Charley Chau.
Christine Chau gives her first-person account of just one of the more serious cases of intellectual property infringement that her small, family-owned business has had to deal with, a case that the company tried everything to resolve out of court but was eventually left with no choice but to issue court proceedings in the small claims track with the help of McDaniels Law. Charley Chau’s own story is part of the show’s wider efforts to help viewers to better understand the intricacies of the British justice system, be it problems at work, property disputes, medical negligence and pensioners falling foul of conmen.
As an innovative, design-led business Charley Chau found themselves to be a target of copying by unethical traders very early on after they established the business in 2010. By 2015, the co-founders were so overcome by the sheer volume and serious nature of infringements that they sought help on protecting and defending their intellectual property rights by joining A©ID® (Anti Copying in Design) and McDaniels Law in 2015. McDaniels Law has advised and represented Charley Chau on over twenty cases of intellectual property infringement to date and Charley Chau continues to deal with literally hundreds of intellectual property infringements directly each year.
Christine Chau, Co-Founder of Charley Chau, says: “When we set up Charley Chau, there was no big shiny business plan, designing dog beds was just something we loved to do. Our knowledge of intellectual property didn’t extend beyond a layman’s understanding of copyright, and a vague awareness of the existence of patents and trademarks – and we had zero idea we might need to protect the IP that we were creating in Charley Chau.
“However, in the 12 years since founding our small we have faced and continue to face all manner of IP infringements from copycat products that infringe our design rights to the theft and unauthorised use of our imagery to sell fake, inferior products. We’ve even had companies copy our website site, images and code to publish on their own websites to link back to Charleychau.com to confuse customers into thinking there is some kind of official relationship between the companies when no such relationships existed.
“While the business of protecting our Intellectual Property is both financially and emotionally draining, not to mention hugely distracting from focusing on running our business, it’s hugely important that we take this stance to protect both the unique designs that we bring to market as well as to protect our customers from unethical companies selling fake Charley Chau products. McDaniels Law helps is to take a robust approach to protecting our legal rights.”
Niall Head-Rapson, Director at McDaniels Law, adds: "Taking part in the BBC's Northern Justice series has been a real privilege. It is rare that the legal profession has the chance to demonstrate the invaluable help that it can provide to ordinary people and their businesses. I hope the programme encourages others in a similar position to Christine at Charley Chau to stand up and protect themselves. Fledgling businesses have enough to worry about without others benefitting from their hard-earned intellectual property. As a dedicated and experienced team of specialist intellectual property lawyers, I am proud of the work my colleagues are doing for our clients, ranging from start-ups to large corporates and PLCs across the UK and beyond.”
Charley Chau’s appearance on Northern Justice appeared on BBC One on Monday 26th September 2022. Click here to view on BBC iplayer.
