OMHU fights sofa copies with a fake of its own

OMHU, a Danish design company whose sofa has gone viral on social media, has created its own imitation to draw attention to the large number of cheaper copies on the market, DR reports.

The company says it receives one or two inquiries a week from customers who have discovered imitations of its Teddy sofa. OMHU holds trademark protection and design rights for the product, which has a mattress-like construction, a velvet-like cover, soft corners and can be converted into a sofa bed.

The sofa contributed to the company recording a profit of 39.2 million kroner last year. However, many of the sofas shown on Instagram and TikTok do not come from OMHU.

“Every time we manage to get them taken down, a new one appears,” said Christine Marie Smith, the company’s creative director.

Copies are sold on platforms including Etsy and Temu for a fraction of the original price. A quick search on the website dupe.com also produces examples of cheaper imitations.

OMHU responded by creating its own “dupe”, a slang term for a counterfeit or imitation product. Fifty orange versions of the sofa were listed on each of the websites under the misspelled product name “Tedy” and the description “the iconic dupe”. They were offered at a lower price than the original and sold out in less than 10 minutes, Smith said.

Customers mistake copies for originals

The fake products were intended to “hack” the sales platforms and highlight a problem OMHU says is too difficult and resource-intensive for one company to solve alone.

Smith said the company could not realistically take on billion-kroner companies that provide platforms for sellers of imitations.

“There are many other brands fighting the same battle as us. It is optimistic to think that one company could take on the sales platforms alone,” she said.

OMHU has also been contacted by buyers of counterfeit sofas who complained about the quality after believing they had purchased the genuine product. The company says this makes it necessary to explain why customers should invest in an original made from good materials, under responsible working conditions and in an appropriate production process.

Legal action can be costly

Stina Teilmann-Lock, a lecturer specialising in design and intellectual property management at Copenhagen Business School, said she understood why individual companies avoided major legal battles.

Companies can try to persuade platforms to close profiles selling counterfeit goods, she said, but this is difficult to do alone. Organisations such as RettighedsAlliancen often take such action on behalf of companies, she said.

Legal action is even more difficult. Danish companies have pursued similar cases with mixed results, and the process is particularly demanding for smaller businesses.

“It is expensive and resource-intensive, and a poor use of companies’ time, even if they can eventually win the cases,” Teilmann-Lock said. She added that the legal process becomes more complicated when cases involve foreign companies.

Campaign targets young consumers

OMHU is using the slang term “dupe” and social media to reach young consumers, who are more likely to buy counterfeit goods.

A recent survey by the Danish Patent and Trademark Office found that one in three people aged 15 to 24 knowingly buys counterfeit products. Price was the most important reason.

As part of its campaign, OMHU has also used people who closely resemble well-known public figures as influencers. They include a man who resembles an American actor who has recently appeared in films and series including “Wuthering Heights”, a woman who resembles a famous American model married to pop star Justin Bieber, and Miles Mitchell, who won a look-alike competition in New York after being compared with the American actor who plays the lead in the “Dune” films.