Plagiarius: A museum devoted to counterfeit goods

The museum is in Cologne, Germany. The Business Week story is here.

The Museum Plagiarius, housed in a converted railway building, will permanently exhibit 300 original products together with seemingly identical rip-offs. These items range from fashion and household products to electrical and medical equipment. They come from the annual Plagiarius awards, presented by the museum's co-founder Professor Rido Busse at the world's largest consumer-goods trade fair Ambiente, which takes place each February in Frankfurt. For 30 years, an independent jury convened by the designer and university lecturer has awarded the Plagiarius to a handful of unscrupulous copies, each submitted by the exasperated original designers. “The idea is to shame the con men and help the general public realize how widespread the problem is -- it's not just limited to Louis Vuitton bags,” says Professor Busse. Click through to see this year's 12 award winners -- and their original inspirations.

You can check out this year's 12 award 'winners' in a slideshow. Here.