9 years ago, Marianne Hebnes followed the reality series No Limits with Lars Monsen. The series was about a group of people with different types of disabilities who challenged themselves to climb mountain peaks. She was so inspired that she dared to contact one of the participants. Bjarte, who is severely visually impaired and deaf, had a dream of climbing the Pulpit before he loses his sight completely. She promised herself to help him with this, but had no tools for companionship.
3D-printed prototype
Marianne had experience as a companion, and usually used a steel hook from Biltema wrapped in a towel and thread. She has previously run the company Vizo where she has trained others in product design and 3D printing. Thus, it was only natural to test out a better solution. "I made the first prototype with the help of the 3D printer, and already the same day we were out testing it," says Marianne. The trip to the Pulpit gave them a lot of learning. Bjarte walked in a completely different way, felt safe and experienced a sense of mastery.
Shortly afterwards, Marianne gathered a focus group who got to test the first prototype. She packed her suitcase full of prototypes of what was then called "U" and went to Bergen to test out her idea.
Marianne founded the company U-GO in February 2019. She chose to have the production locally in Stavanger. It was a conscious choice because of the environment. It will be too far to go to China to check what is happening.
Rights important to secure values
Marianne says that as a product developer and entrepreneur, she has developed a different relationship with product and market. Previously, she was not particularly conscious of the things she bought as a consumer. "Buying something at the lowest possible price is something everyone can relate to. In the wake of this, a cheaper solution often follows, i.e. a copy of the original. For example, I have bought some designer chairs that I found for less than half the price at another supplier; the villain, the copy-cat or the copy-goblin as we entrepreneurs call them. I would NEVER have done that today," she says.
– It should have been something called soul work (ref. intellectual work), because you put your whole soul into something that others will very likely try to plagiarize. IPR is important to secure the values in the company. It also provides more security for partners and investors.
U-GO is design protected in Norway, and they have started an application for a registered EU design. U-GO is also a registered trademark in Norway, and an application for trademark registration is being processed in the EU. The company has received assistance with the trademark application from a law firm in Oslo that specializes in IPR.
Italian company complained about the trademark registration
After the registration of the trademark, the company received an inquiry from a company in Italy who believed that U-GO comes into conflict with their trademark because it is registered in the same product classes. They were given a deadline by the EUIPO to reach an agreement with the Italian company. Their lawyer asked them to limit the trademark application to two classes of goods. Hebnes believes this would result in additional costs, and has chosen to take the matter further on his own. She thinks it should be required by law for all new product developers to take a course in IPR. Then surely many would manage to take care of such processes themselves. After having been in dialogue with several lawyers and advisers, she feels that it is not always obvious how to solve various challenges. The experts base many decisions on discretion.
More will copy
She has met several people who say that the product is as simple as it is ingenious. It is positive, but also challenging feedback. U-GO is the world's first companion brace, and the company is conscious of using the phrase "world's first" in its marketing. "It is appropriate that we should be the market leader when the copycats come to profit from other people's inventions. Future competitors may be able to have a companion bar, but they will never have what is unique about the U-GO, which is history.”
People come up with development ideas and want to sell these to her, or want to make "better imitations". "The challenge with a 'simple and ingenious' product is that it is easy to copy. That is why I have been proactive from the start in establishing a strategy that will give us a strong position in the market", says Hebnes.
International plans
Hebnes has high ambitions and has thought internationally from day one. Now she is in the process of finding collaborators, distribution partners and ambassadors for U-GO. She is also focused on building the company for the future with more employees. Today, she has an advisory board consisting of professionals and creative helpers. "My future dream team consists of general manager, product developer, marketing manager, accountant and ... an IPR specialist would be nice!"
Tips for others
She encourages exchanging experiences with other entrepreneurs who have been or are in the same situation. There is no shame in asking for advice or help from others, she does that all the time. "When I am faced with a problem, I collect input from selected teams, and am left with valuable input from people who have been in the same situation or who work with IPR on a daily basis. I have collected assistance and input from lawyers, product developers and from the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. In the end, I connect knowledge with experience, and always let my gut feeling come into play. It is perhaps the most important parameter you have as an entrepreneur," says Hebnes.
