During the ISH 2005 International Trade Fair, held in Frankfurt from 15-19 March, the German company Aquatherm secured injunctions requiring that we withdraw our display of PP-R products.

THE REASONS
According to the claims made by Aquatherm, the Interplast system (pipes and attachments) is the same or similar colour. Specifically, the German company maintained that in the law of its country its pipes and attachments are protected for the German market with a patent covering their colour, on the basis of RAL 1506040.

THE DECISION
In our absence the court ordered the withdrawal of the PP-R pipes and attachments, and of all related advertising/promotional material. Specifically, the following items were withdrawn:

The company price lists (even though of their 112 pages only 13 contain references to the PP-R pipes and attachments
The Aqua-plus technical manuals
The company's DVD, which enables the whole range of our activities to be displayed on a TV screen.
They also wished to withdraw the technical manual for the cross-linked polyethylene pipes, claiming that the forty pages of the manual contain 6 photographs and 2 drawings showing PP-R pipes in combination with Como-pex pipes and copper joints.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
The colour is not the same, as can be seen from written assurances from the suppliers of our company's raw materials. It is similar, just as dozens of other polypropylene systems available on the market are similar. In any case, is there any definition of what constitutes similarity in terms of colours? Where does the idea of similar colour begin and where does it end?

There were dozens of companies represented at the ISH 2005 with PP-R pipes and attachments in green colours. Why, then, did Aquatherm take legal action against Interplast?

This was the third time since 1999 that Interplast had taken part in the ISH. Why did no one bother us on the two previous occasions? We were using, and continue to use, exactly the same colour.

On page 65 of the Greek edition of the Aquatherm technical manual (March 2004) reference is made to the expiry of the patent and the appearance of products imitating the Aquatherm colour. Why has the colour patent suddenly appeared now?

The ISH is an international trade fair. It is not designed only for the German market. Should you not, as housekeepers and hosts, follow fundamental rules of hospitality? If you were determined to take action on this issue, you could have informed us before the trade fair opened so that we could have taken some action.

THE REAL RESULTS
It may be that the original purpose of Aquatherm was to take Interplast by surprise and create problems for us at the fair; however, this purpose was not achieved.

For Interplast this was our most successful attendance at a trade fair. And your actions have earned us the unstinting moral support of our friends, Greek and foreign, which gave us the strength and resolve to continue discussions even more energetically during the period of the fair. As a company, and as individuals, we are not interested only in our products having friends, but in having personal friends as well. For this, as our respected colleagues at Aquatherm will appreciate, is one of the most important things in this life.

BUT WHY DID ALL THIS REALLY HAPPEN?
Perhaps because we told the truth about the glass fibre pipes (FASER), namely that they do not have the DVGW certification which is the passport for any German manufacturer of water supply pipes? Perhaps we shouldn't have informed the market of this? Perhaps you claim the exclusive right to provide information, or perhaps information has a specific country of origin? And of course you know only too well that we could have had recourse to the Greek courts and the Competition Commission, accusing you of unfair competition when in the Greek edition of your advertising brochure you falsely claimed that the FASER pipes had DVGW certification. But no, we left the courtroom battle to you, preferring to fight our battles in the market place.

It is now up to you to tell the market why the FASER pipe has no certification, like your other types of pipe. Perhaps it is your view that the words 'made in Germany' on this type of pipe are equivalent to certification from the official German institutes? Perhaps all these questions annoy you when you hear them asked in the market place. Do you really want to suppress any voice which annoys you or expresses opposition to your own views?

SO MANY COURTS - WHY?
You might also care to tell the public why you have had recourse to the courts on so many occasions, in both the Greek and international market. What other company has taken legal action as often as you? Don't you think that to initiate five actions in recent years against Greek companies is excessive? Is this any way to hold on to your market share in the modern high-speed age? Is this the way you seek allies in order to ensure that plastic pipe systems prevail in water and heating installations? You should choose new methods in the market place, contemporary methods in tune with the needs of the times. We all have a place in the sun. Luckily, no one has taken out a patent on sunlight yet.

It is our belief that actions like these turn back the clock. You need to understand that we are living in a world of globalization and high technology. And with the kind of action you have taken you are making no contribution to the cause of progress. Just imagine what would happen if manufacturers were given the right to introduce patents of this kind across the world. We would have up to seven manufacturers for each product - as many as the colours of the rainbow. In other words, we would have monopolies operating at the expense of the consumer, and of progress itself.

FIGHTING FOR QUALITY AND PROGRESS
Do you think it is a bad thing that a Greek manufacturer should follow the rules of quality and have its product certified by four rigorous institutes like the German DVGW and SKZ, the Spanish AENOR and the British WRAS? Do you really think the market doesn't have the right to opt for Greek products following the rules of product quality? Does quality have an exclusive country of origin? Or perhaps you think it is wrong for a Greek company to move beyond the borders of its own country and export its products to more than 25 other countries around the world? And please let us assure you that we are not the kind of people who believe that all foreigners are barbarians. Nor do we believe that the market should be oriented to products with a specific country of origin. Nor is it our view that all German manufacturers are subject to such attitudes and practices. In fact during the trade fair, and after the incident in question, we came into contact with German manufacturers whose attitudes and practices had nothing in common with those we have experienced at the hands of Aquatherm during the ISH 2005.

We hereby declare, as we declared in the statement we posted on our display at the fair, where the PP-R products on show had been removed, that we shall continue to wage the war for QUALITY, and NOT the war of COLOURS, for the sake of quality products certified by internationally recognized quality assurance institutes.

We also declare that we shall hold high the standard of information. We occupy first place in the Greek market in sales of pipes for installed water supply/heating systems, and we have a duty to share our knowledge with the technical community. Every year we arrange seminars or workplace visits in which we brief over a thousand individuals in Greece; we shall continue with this practice to ensure that plastic pipe systems achieve a larger market share.

We declare that we shall fight in the German courts to have the colour patent withdrawn - since this patent is an obstacle to progress and in opposition to the spirit of the age - and that we shall seek the intervention of the European courts to require that German legislation be brought into line with European law.

INTERPLAST SA