A manufacturer of boots Quebec says she is the victim of plagiarism

Photo Stevens LeBlanc
The director-general of Shoes Henri-Pierre, Jean-François Gadoury, at its offices in Quebec on the 8th of February.

Nicolas Saillant

Monday, 12 February, 2018 00:00

UPDATE
Monday, 12 February, 2018 00:00

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A Quebec-based company that manufactures winter boots just discovered with astonishment that it was literally copy the patterns, the material and the insoles of a dozen models of his boots by an importer in Montreal.

In the middle of the winter boots for more than three decades, the company Henri-Pierre, who has a storefront in the Saint-Émile, is in turmoil since the end of January. While the company will fulfill its order books for the winter season 2018-2019, its director general has discovered that a Montreal-based company copied entirely several models of its collections in the past.

Identical Copies

“It is theft, it is outright theft,” says, taken aback, Jean-François Gadoury, general manager of Footwear Henri-Pierre. “They have made a collection of our boots, everything is the same “, he says.

“It’s all of our boots, copies to 100 %. The same forms, the same shoes, the same patterns, styles, seams, grommets, everything, ” he says with supporting evidence. Models of the collection “Bastien” 2015, 2016 and 2017 have been copied by the Montreal-based company. Boots sold in Quebec between one-third and half the price.

If Henri-Pierre does today to make its boots in China to follow the competition, Jean-François Gadoury reminds us that the research and development of the approximately 120 models of boots it produces per year is expensive. “I have two designers, I send them to China to check the quality of the samples, the raw materials. I send them to the exhibition to see the trends, that is what is going to happen in the market. It is a lot of investment, ” explains the director general.

“Empty shell “

Mr. Gadoury has therefore sent a letter of formal notice to an importer montreal, while the RCMP has decided to open a folder. However, it appears that the company in question is an “empty shell” and that the bailiffs had difficulty in serving a notice.

After you have found the accuracy of copies, the company also turned to its supplier in China to find out if the copies came from the same factory, which is not the case. “It is my bosses boots, my soles, but not my production quality “, explains Mr. Gadoury.

In the meantime the following things, Mr. Gadoury wants its customers to emphasize the quality of its products at one of the copies. “I don’t have the financial means of Nike or Skechers. Me, I’m fighting to keep my place on the market “, he argued.

A few examples

Boots identical

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Original

The copy of the boot Bastien model Genna has exactly the same height and the seams are in exactly the same place as the original.

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Competitor

Sole tree leaf

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Original

Shoe Henri-Pierre has developed a sole leaf of a tree which has the advantage to be non-slip in addition to leave a footprint in the snow. The copy leaves exactly the same footprint.

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Competitor

Same colors

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Original

The Quebec-based company has developed three-color boots : gray, black and burgundy, shades copied by the importer Montreal. The number of eyelets and hooks, as well as the lace “shiny” are exactly the same. The only difference between the original and the copy, it is the small medallion of silver with the name of the brand of Quebec.

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Competitor