Duy lợi english.

Duy lợi english.

60Duy Loifoldable hammock60- Innovative ideas, plus effective means to appropriate the ideas.- Obtaining appropriate legal services which allow the designated law firm to win law suits in overseascountries, therefore opening up the export market.Success factorsDuy Loi foldable hammockEntrepreneur/ Overcoming Poverty through EnterprisePDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as a worker in a state-run mechanics enterprise, Mr. Loi lived in very difficult conditions, receiving only a low income. One day,a neighbor asked him to fix a hammock which had a metal-supported structure. Mr. Loi modified the structure,making it foldable so that it was easier to use and carry.Positive feedback from his neighbor convinced Mr. Loi ofthe potential market for his idea.Excited with his new idea, he made some prototypes whichwere very much enjoyed by voluntary users. He discussedthe idea of launching this new product with his manager atthe state-owned enterprise (SOE), as a profit-sharingarrangement between Mr. Loi and the SOE. After cooperating with the SOE for a short time, the deal turnedout to be problematic. He decided to quit his job at theSOE and set up his own production unit to make and market the foldable hammocks.Making hammocks and supporting structures with traditional materials (wood and steel rather than high-techmaterial) does not require any sophisticated technologyand/or huge investment. Literally, any one with smallamounts of capital and a fair knowledge of mechanicscould set up a workshop to make hammocks. However,what makes Mr. Loi's hammock business different fromothers is that he has had the innovative idea of creating afoldable frame. Traditional hammocks do not have any supporting structure at all. The two tails are tied to any twofixed objects - be they trees, pillars or metal rings fixed onto walls. With a foldable frame (made of metal or wood),the hammock can be set up anywhere without having toconsider the supporting points. An even greater advantage is that Mr Loi has been able toprotect his idea by means of Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) legislation. As a mechanic, he knew very well thathis idea of a foldable frame could easily be copied once itwas exposed to the market. He therefore applied to patenthis designs in Vietnam quite early in the progress of hisbusiness, before he started any mass production. His firstapplication was recognized by the Department of IPR inVietnam on 23 March 2000 and he was granted a patent forhis design shortly afterwards. This move turned out to bevital for his business, given later developments.Success with the patenting of his product in Vietnam gaveMr. Loi more confidence to start mass production. Rightfrom the start, in 2000, given its highly portable capability(foldable and weighing only 7 kg), Duy Loi foldable hammocks quickly became dominant in the Southern market. The market was quickly expanded in 2001 and2002. He also started to export, mainly to the United States(US), Japan, South Korea and Australia. Following his success during these years, in 2002, Duy Loisuccessfully signed a supplying contract with Keyio, an international Japanese supermarket chain. However, at theheight of his business success, a threat emerged that promised to block this promising contract. In August 2002,Duy Loi received a letter from a lawyer representing aJapanese 61Entrepreneur/ Overcoming Poverty through EnterprisePDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com company requiring that Duy Loi had toeither stop exporting its foldable hammock to Japan or pay a royalty of $4per hammock. The Japanese firm arguedthat the Duy Loi foldable hammock hadviolated its patent (Number 3081528) on asimilar structure which was granted bythe Japanese Patent Office on 22 August2001.Confronted with this challenge, Mr. Loidecided to seek support from a law firm, avery rare move for a small to mediumenterprise (SME) in Vietnam. He discussed his situation with Pham &Associates, a law firm with a specialization in this field, and becameconvinced that, given that the patent forhis design was recognized by theVietnamese IPR authorities on 23 March2000, much earlier than the date of issueof the Japanese patent, he had a chance tofile a suit against the Japanese firm and soprotect his business. Pham & Associateswere assigned as representatives for DuyLoi in this process. In November 2002,Duy Loi formally sent a letter to theJapanese Patent Office requiring theOffice to withdraw the patent granted tothe Japanese firm since the inventiondescribed in this patent was similar to theDuy Loi structure which had beenexposed to the public much earlier. Giventhe solid arguments and evidence for hiscase, after six months of the suit theJapanese Patent Office withdrew Patent3081528, opening the way for Duy Loi toexport to the Japanese market.The Japan experience make Duy Loi morecareful about IPR issues, especially whenthe company expanded its overseasmarket. Through searching the US patentdatabase, Pham & Associates found apatent filed on 23 March 2001, granted bythe US Patent Office to a Taiwanese businessman for his inventive idea of afoldable hammock. It is obvious that thestructure shown in this patent is very similar to that of Duy Loi's hammock.Given that this patent was filed much laterthan the day the Duy Loi structure wasreleased to the public, Duy Loi decided tobring a suit against the Taiwanese businessman for violating US patent law.If successful with this suit, Duy Loi canavoid being accused of violating IPR, andmeans the company can freely export tothe US market.The two law suits have turned Duy Loiinto a very well-known firm in Vietnam.To some extent, this has helped to selltheir products in the domestic market.However, it has not been easy for the firmto develop its market domestically.Although Duy Loi has won the market inthe South, the Northern market (Ha Noi inparticular) has not developed to the extentMr. Loi desires. The only product thatsells well in Ha Noi is the hammock forchildren. Mr. Loi explained that people inHa Noi regard the hammock as somethingbelonging to the countryside - somethingwhich is no longer suitable for modernhouses. This sense of what is suitable formodernization has been an emergingtrend in recent times. Another difficulty isthat Duy Loi also has many competitors.Some of them obviously copy the Duy Loidesign, but given the week enforcementof IPR law in Vietnam, it is very costly toprevent this. Other producers have modified their design to avoid violatingIPR law, and these producers competedirectly with Duy Loi.Besides the main product line, the company also produces other foldableobjects - notably chairs and beds - usinga variety of materials and designs. Thecompany now owns seven patents forinventions/utility models and one patentfor industrial design related to its products.Mr. Loi's management style is modest. Heworks in a simple office located right inthe workshop. There is a large designtable in the office where he develops mostof his designs with a simple calculator. Hedescribes himself as the manager, designer and technician of the companyand is very proud of the compact organizational form of the company. It isvery obvious that he hates the old harddays of complex but ineffective administration of SOEs and that he trieshis best not to emulate this with his owncompany. From a family size workshop with a fewworkers, Duy Loi has developed into awell-known firm with about 70 workers atthe present time (early 2005). The company sells several tens of thousandsof products per year, of which 30% areexported. It has 200 distribution agents inVietnam and they also function as themain marketing channels. Its local markets are mainly in HCMC andSouthern provinces. The Northern marketis under development and has so far notbeen very successful. The companyexports to many countries, includingJapan and the US. 62Entrepreneur/ Overcoming Poverty through EnterprisePDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com 63Entrepreneur/ Overcoming Poverty through EnterpriseSuccess factors- Innovative ideas, plus effective means toappropriate the ideas.- Obtaining appropriate legal services which allow the designated law firm to winlaw suits in overseas countries, therefore opening up the export market.PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com . to that of Duy Loi's hammock.Given that this patent was filed much laterthan the day the Duy Loi structure wasreleased to the public, Duy Loi decided. Pham & Associateswere assigned as representatives for DuyLoi in this process. In November 2002 ,Duy Loi formally sent a letter to theJapanese Patent Office