After years of investigations and great expense, Chinese police and Bohning CEO/Owner Larry Griffith have taken down several Chinese counterfeit operations. Significant amounts of counterfeit archery goods were seized as a result of early morning raids conducted on April 11, 2019.
It all began a few years ago when archers notified Bohning of what appeared to be poor-quality Blazer vanes. Upon receiving the vanes, Bohning quickly identified them as counterfeit. All Bohning vanes have always been manufactured at the Bohning facility in Lake City, Michigan. As a result, it wasn’t a difficult task for Bohning staff to identify the substandard material and processes used in the counterfeit vanes.
Leads from consumers and archery dealers proved key in establishing the large scale of counterfeit operations. Bohning worked in very close collaboration with lawyers in Beijing, as well as the Chinese police, whose assistance was instrumental.
“Not only do counterfeit goods undermine the research and development efforts our company puts into producing quality products, in the case of archery, they are a major safety risk,” said Bohning CEO/Owner Larry Griffith. “Take Bohning nocks, for example. We produce them all at the Bohning facility, and test them to the max to make sure they are capable of withstanding increasing bow speeds — the Bohning brand signifies quality and safety. When another company counterfeits those nocks, you can bet they haven’t put the work into it that we have. If that counterfeit nock fails and an archer’s bow blows up, who is going to take responsibility? Not the counterfeiter, that’s for sure.”
Now that Bohning has shut down these counterfeit operations, analysts will determine the next steps.
“This is going to be a major boon to all of our distributors and dealers who are selling the real stuff,” said Bohning Director of International Sales Holly Henrickson. “We’ve wiped out many illegitimate sources, and we’re not going to quit now. Larry has been the driving force behind these takedowns, and all of us here at Bohning will continue to support his efforts.”
For more information on Bohning Archery, visit www.bohning.com.
