Copyright © Richard Perry 2018. Copyright commencement date is 14th February 2018.
Richard Perry Versus.
Continued from Page 1: By some luck I then found a manufacturer in China and quickly found a Chinese teacher in the UK to give me some quick lessons in Chinese as I had to go to China to have the products produced. We eventually became good friends and went on many camping trips together with our partners. I travelled around China in the darkest most dangerous places, that to Western eyes would look like war torn, devastated places, trying to find manufacturers. I even had my mobile phone cut off by the extreme failures of Orange Plc whilst I was alone on a boat in the middle of the night somewhere in the South China Sea between Hong Kong and Mainland China, and didn’t even know if my contact was going to show up. It was a bit of wild journey as China was slowly rising out of a third world Country status and many changes were taking place. It was exciting visiting all the manufacturers and seeing my own products being produced and then having them shipped back to the UK. I had the thoughts (as everyone does) that should I sit with the container on the way back? Do I hitch a lift with the crew? This was how important my little fencebrackets were to me. Years later another inventor who was just starting off asked me the same questions and I realised how far I had got with my journey and passion. I attempted to build relationships with the Chinese to ensure my products were of a very good quality and produced at a competitive price. I think that was a key decision and part of the continued success. Apart from one issue over labelling, i’ve never had any problems with the Chinese MFR and we had a great relationship up to the point where my business was destroyed by the Defendants. I came to love travelling around China - there is something about it that fascinated me. It’s a different world. The culture is very different, the food is very different the whole way of life. I used to stay in Hong Kong regularly. It was all a bit of a ball. Restauranting away the nights in Victoria Harbour and the Peak, visting the Terracotta Army in Xian, dining away Shanghai nights, it was all enormous fun and my fencebrackets were gaining traction in the market all the time. I think I can say I fell in love with China and continued to go back there on business for many years until the recession hit the UK in 2009 and then I had to focus on keeping the business going in the UK, so I had to cut out all the expensive trips. Over the years whilst my fencebrackets were becoming established I also began inventing other products that I found a need for in construction. I was still running my construction business and found niches in the market where products were needed. I actually began consciously looking for more products to produce to help build my business. I had the dream of building an empire with my products selling all over the world making a better place and to some degree I did achieve that. I just expected to get paid and earn my fortune. Whilst all of this was going on, I continued to telephone and write to dozens of businesses and Companies begging for them to stock my products. I still did not have any interest from any of them. In Autumn of 2007 I then did another GLEE trade show costing approx. £4000 with the new products that sported the new labels and brilliantly displayed in the new display stands I designed myself and was a little more successful at this show. I took on a couple of new stockists and found a Distributor to small independent fencing retailers who has later become a named Defendant. I also saw some of the other Defendants at the show who walked past my stand ignoring me and smirking at me as they passed pretending to have no interest in me or my products or Patents and whilst at the same time giving themselves a pat on the back every year and awarding each other bonuses for ‘how well they’re doing’ out of my products/Patents they neither invented nor paid for. They also had the luxury of driving new Company cars around paid for on the profits of my Patent that they have stolen and used, whilst I have to drive a beaten up old van because all of my money went into the Patents and products that I invented. Patents and products that they have illegally taken, copied and used to generate themselves tens of millions of pounds in revenues. I began a relationship with the Distributor that I met at GLEE under the new Company that I had set up in 2004: United Fence Products Inc. Ltd and continued to supply the small bunch of stockists (about 25-35 retailers). After another year the Distributor had sold my products into around another 200 retailers and my products and Fencebrackets brand was becoming known in the marketplace. A precarious relationship between us continued (mainly due to price disputes and who would deal with which customers as there was some overlap) until 2010 and until they decided to counterfeit my products, but between us we had supplied around 450 independent retailers in the UK. I’ve still had to continue investing my own money as the world currencies have collapsed due to the global recessions and the increasing costs wipe out my percentage of the profit, as the products are of a low value and only enormous volumes generate good profits. Enormous volumes as sold by the Defendants. I’ve not been able to make any money out of my products in ten years and I’ve only been able to go on one proper holiday in 2011 in more or less the same amount of time. The reason that I continued the relationship with the Distributor is that whilst I wasn’t making any money out of it, my products and brands are in the market place and the sales volumes are growing rapidly. I’ve forced my way into an industry dominated by a few enormous Companies that all maintain a monopoly and block new small individuals like me from entering the market as best they can and, I’ve done this on a shoestring budget. My products are well known throughout the industry and nobody will help me or back me out of pure envy and jealousy because they haven’t done it at such a young age. I continue to invent more and more products because the only way of standing up to these big players is to keep being successful and eventually engulf them. I’m like a wasp to them a tiny little insect that delivers a big sting. In 2014 I engaged with B&Q plc the market leading DIY retailer. They finally agreed to stock my products that went into 330 stores very reluctantly. I got the first order to them in June and the products had sold out within 2 weeks of going on display. I achieved their highest sales rating and it took everyone by surprise. I was nervous about stocking the big retailers because I didn’t want to be a failure but my product did very well. I continued to supply B&Q for almost 4 years until the UK Government corruption got involved to stop them selling my products; because by selling my products in large volumes it gave credibility and a track record to the products and the value of the intellectual property, which is exactly what the Government doesn’t want because that is something that is enforceable. The UK Government doesn’t want individuals being rich and successful because you’re out of their control and misery. I have constantly asked B&Q why they refuse to place an order since the civil cases became known and they refuse to give any honest answer. It is disappointing and a crying shame. With the help of B&Q and the other small independant retailers I sold almost 4 million fencebrackets until the Defendants flooded the marketplace with counterfeits and used their corporate might to wipe my products out from the market. This is serious organised crime and the UK Government refuses to do anything about it. I had a great time in my life getting my orders out. I was often driving down to the ports to collect shipments, arranging shipping, lugging pallets and pallets of stock around on my own, working my guts out. But it was a thrill and exciting. To be honest, even though I was trying to make a fortune, the money wasn’t really a big part part of it because I was slogging away and seeing my work paying off. I knew I was building up value but I was more interested in seeing people delighted with products that I had created and knowing that what I was doing was extremely successful. When you’re starting off, you don’t really care about profits - it’s just about doing it, being in business and trading and finding your way, and people putting up their fences loved my products.
The Fencebrackets Story Page 2
In 2013 I was at the cusp of re-launch with a range of these products when I then got dragged into the first civil case against the Defendants. It killed it all off and all the different versions for different types of insulation. Then to my sheer horror, another group of the Defendants decided to produce products for retaining insulation between rafters that without doubt are stolen from my patents and they launch their products in the UK calling them ‘Rafterclips’ which is my registered trademark. This is serious and organised crime. See the Evidence page. It wiped out years of my painstaking work and enduring the trecherous road of pioneering the work, creating an entire market for these products and putting all my love and passion into it, only to find the entire lot is stolen without conscience by worldwide companies that bribe the UK Government into turning a blind eye. I recently had another vivid dream about this situation. I get lots of them! In the dream I am next to a wide, fast running river with a strong current and holding a conversation with an old man. He is dressed in a grey ragged old hessian tunic - a one piece outfit tied around the waist by a old worn out cord and he has a grey whitish beard. I can’t quite make out his face but I know he is in a senior position in the community. He has a sense of calmness but exudes a silent strength and Authority. I am saying to him that this situation has wiped out my life and it is slowly killing me; i’m not getting any support from Authority and i’m left all on my own trying to bring worldwide companies to justice. He knows that I am in despair and he says to me: ‘in the old days, we used to fill the rivers with lime so that the water would run white. Everyone in the community would know that someone in Authority, or people that are supposed to be looking out for the welfare of others, had done something shameful and disgraceful”. He then said: “Keep going… (meaning keep pursuing justice)… because the rivers will run white with shame”. In my dream-state mind this means because the people behind this and who are playing an active part in corruption, have committed sins against the spirit - not just against me but against life and the Creator or God or the Great Spirit or whatever you want to call the divine. The water is significant because obviously it represents life. When I awoke, I still had this dream on my mind and other bible verses came to me such as “those who judge will also be judged”, but I think it means judged by the community and they will be removed from Authority. I’m not particularly religious nor a devout Christian and so these things are unusual and wouldn’t crop up in daily life, but I believe that by persuing justice, this will result in great benefit to all those out there that are also doing good for themselves and their communities. Anyway, back to the main story: Again between 2009 and 2014 I had ideas for my range of Plantladders®. These were a range of trellises to fit to concrete fence posts to help vertical growing and to disguise the ugly concrete or enhance the appearance of fences etc. I always enjoyed spending time in the garden growing my vegetables etc. and through wanting to spice up the garden I invented my Plantladders®. I wrote and filed all the patents and got to prototyping and packaging but then the civil cases ruined the dream. These are now on a back burner and I may return to this but probably not - i’ve lost all the enthusiasm of doing it. Why keep investing if you know the Authorities will commit crime against you rather than supporting you? One of these patents was also ruined by the incompetence of the UK Patent Office. Here is an early prototype>>> it has come on a long way since then: I have granted patents, I have granted designs, registered trademarks etc. It cost me a fortune to acquire those rights. I doubt these products will now ever reach market because I’ve lost all enthusiasm, even though i’ve now patented adjustable legs, made updates etc. I had clear visions of amazing packaging and ways of presenting these products. There isn’t (or at least wasn’t) anything like this in the UK market. Since then, I’ve also been developing an indoor hydroponics system which isn’t new tech, but promotes healthy living and encourages folk to grow clean crops. Smart gardens have now appeared in the USA but my inventions go further than that. I can’t disclose any more of it because i’m still working on it, but these products are another big hitter. In 2012 I began working on another tool known as my Spirit level bolt- ons. These are a range of mini tools that bolt- on to a spirit level funnily enough! The patents are pending. One was almost at grant and i’ve now come against more dishonesty and crime carried out by the UK Patent Office. Read about it under the UK Gov. Corruption page above. Between 2008 to 2012 I also began work on my new brand of sheeps wool insulation which was also part of the reason that led me to insulating my mothers loft. My new brand Sheepsulation (see: sheepsulation.com ) was for a Chinese insulation product that is used to insulate skyscrapers all over the world. The product wasn’t mine but it was an unknown product in the UK and the Chinese were asking me to help them develop their European market, and so I created the Sheepsulation brand. I spent £8000 developing the brand and marketing material and even had to set up the trade tariffs for UK customs because nobody had ever heard of this product. £8000 might seem like a pittance, but when you’ve only got pennies to your name, that is suddenly A LOT of money to part with. Yet again completely lost and destroyed by the Defendants. What started off as an exciting story has slowly turned to darkness. Between 2015 to 2017 I haven’t worked or filed a great deal of patents. I’ve lost all love and passion for doing it. I’ve just filed a new patent for my railman® - more versions for different purposes. I can see the great benefit this will bring to tradesmen but until this situation is resolved, everything is being delayed or just ruined.
My products pretty much outsell all other similar fence fixing products wherever they are sold because they are brilliant they are the Easiest way for anyone in the world to put up their fence. I can see an enormous value building up in the products, brands and of course Patents but it has been a very long road. Before the Defendants’ crime I still didn’t have any investment or loans or debts but I haven’t made any money either because of the constant reinvestment of profits into more products and into expansion. I got to the stage where I finally began to see a return on my decades of backbreaking work which was then stifled and ruined by the lawlessness of the Defendants. So back to the positive and the fencebrackets story. Between 2009 to 2013 I kept ploughing away inventing and marketing as many new products as I could, keeping a positive energy going and on a fast paced track to success. I had now come to realise and fully believe in my talent and skill as a professional inventor and I had found the secret formula to success. In 2009 I began working on my Rafterclips®. These are a new and fabulous way of retaining insulation between rafters and beams etc. I almost stumbled across this innovation because I had to insulate my mother’s loft (attic). After getting my hands full of fibreglass strands and itching for days I got fed up with it and, well you know the story - guess what? There must be a better way of doing it than this! So again I started off with my prototypes full of excitement and spirit. I worked on the products, trialling, testing, selling a few thousand at trade shows, remaking and bringing to market more products, filing all the patents, designing the packaging. I can confidently say that I pioneered the work in this field and I was very proud of what I was slowly achieving. I still didn’t have enough money and I approached the UK Government’s Develop Fund in the South West for a grant to support my work. They told me that they had never heard of anyone fitting insulation between rafters and therefore I had no chance of getting a grant. So to make this clear for the reader - the UK Government told me that because someone else hadn’t done it first, it meant that nobody could do it. These people are absolute assholes. This is why the Country is dead. So after they basically told me that my ideas were stupid, I set aside their idiotic nonsense and carried on bringing the products to market myself. I tested hundreds and hundreds of prototypes. I built up roof structures in my workshop and used them to test the prototypes continually refining them and creating all the point of sale marketing material etc. Of course it does help being in the construction trade because then you have free guinea pigs to test this stuff out on LOL :)
I will upload a pdf of all the pics which can also be found on www.fencebrackets.com and there is a link half way down the next page, page 3 of the fencebrackets® story.