Fantastic Furniture forced to recall 'toe-slicing' chairsIs it OK to buy replica furniture?
British shoppers will no longer be able to furnish their houses with many items of cheap replica designer furniture following changes to European copyright laws.  
A new European Union ruling will give designers protection by extending copyright from 25 to 70 years after the designer's death, reported Mail Online. Companies that continue to sell replica furniture could face criminal charges.  
Iconic designs such as the Egg chair, the Arco floor lamp and the Eames lounge chair, designed by American designers Charles and Ray Eames in 1956, will again be protected by copyright law within the EU. 
In Australia the sale of replica furniture continues to thrive with online retailers such as Milan Direct, Zanui, Matt Blatt and Sokol legally selling replicas of classic designs.
Louisa Moran from Herman Miller, which owns the rights to Eames furniture, welcomed the European ruling. "I think it would be fabulous if it had an effect on how people purchased replicas in Australia," she said. "But I think you do need very firm laws in place like they have in the UK to actually make that happen."
"In Australia, companies like Matt Blatt, Glicks, Target, Kmart and Bunnings have got fakes on their floor, but the ones who advertise them as replicas are allowed to use the design name as long as they say it is a replica," explains Moran. 
The problem according to Moran is that she doesn't think Australians associate replicas with fakes. "They don't realise that they are buying a respected original design that has been manufactured in a sub-standard way. Replica means fake. I don't think they understand the integrity, the legacy, the history of those original designs. It is tricking the consumer and undervaluing the original design. The manufacturing standards are not there with fakes and I think the general public are being duped."
A plastic moulded Eames chair sold by Zanui costs around $50, while an original from Living Edge, the national retailer for Herman Miller, starts at $690.  
An Arco floor lamp purchased through Milan Direct costs $99, whereas an original from the Conran Shop in the UK sells for around &pound;1425 ($2790).

 "We offer replica furniture because it is in demand" explains Ryely Newman from online retailer, Zanui. "The reason that replica furniture is popular is because they are stylish designs at accessible price points."  
Newman thinks the UK ruling "shouldn't have any immediate effect on Australian consumers though we expect Australian law could follow suit sometime in the future."
"The UK changes are timely and provide a worthy example for Australia to follow," says Anne-Maree Sargeant from the Authentic Design Alliance, a members-based education platform promoting original design and aiming for replica designer furniture and lighting and intellectual property theft to become illegal in Australia. The Alliance is set to relaunch in   May. 
However, adds Sargeant, "we have a slightly more difficult task given 'original design' is not valued by Australians. Similarly, getting the attention of the government has been challenging as the copied product designs have been difficult to quantify in economic terms."
Sargeant says that she speaks regularly to Australian designers who "discover copies of their original designs in hotels, restaurants and office fit outs in large quantities. Significant quantities that dwarf volumes sold at consumer retailers. In these instances Australian businesses are sending the images and product specifications owned by the designer or licensed manufacturer to Asia and copied, then imported to Australia."
"Robbing them of this income stream is damaging the future for Australian designers and if this continues there will be no real incentive for our designers to create original products. Unless of course they move to the UK or other protected territories."
She says to make matters worse, the word "replica" is not clearly understood, with many people mistaking it to mean vintage.
Jo-Ann Kellock, CEO of the Australian Design Alliance (AdA), the alliance of peak professional organisations that represent designers across all aspects of Australia's design industry says that "changes to legislation such as that in the UK makes her concerned that Australia is vulnerable via its current intellectual property arrangements and free trade agreements to becoming the global dumping ground of replicas and dodgy products."
Australia's intellectual property arrangements are currently under review by the Productivity Commission with a draft report expected to be released at the end of   April, says Kellock. 
The European ban on replica rip-offs has given a glimmer of hope to some Australian furniture designers who are increasingly frustrated with Australia's lack of copyright and design protection.
Priyanka Rao, director of furniture manufacturer, Luxmy Furniture, which works under licence with Australian designers, says she welcomes the EU ruling and hopes that it will raise awareness among consumers that buying a fake is not the right ethical choice and that buyers will eventually stop wanting to own inferior quality replica furniture in the same way fake designer handbags have lost their appeal.
Milan Direct declined to comment for this article.