By Kevin Henry
Editor, ProofsRecently, DMG America was awarded a Federal court injunction against "grey market" distributors. You can read the official release on the injunction by clicking here.After reading the release, I wanted to follow up with George Wolfe, president of DMG America, to get his thoughts on the injunction and the state of the "grey market" in the dental industry.Kevin Henry: Why did you seek this Federal court injunction?George Wolfe: DMG America has always been diligent in trying to stop the sale of grey market products and we’ve taken a number of measures to try to eliminate it. One of those strategies is taking legal action. This is by far the most aggressive stance, but we’ve found that being aggressive works. Henry: Why was it so important to you and DMG America to do this?Wolfe: The answer to that is two-fold. First and foremost, we are concerned about the effect that grey market products can have on the end-user. If a dental professional buys product through legitimate channels, he or she can be guaranteed of the product’s safety and efficacy. We, along with our authorized dealer partners go through painstaking lengths to make sure of that. None of these details can be guaranteed with grey market products. Products on the grey market are often times tampered with, altered or subjected to transport and handling conditions that can seriously affect product quality.Secondly, we are always seeking to protect our authorized dealer network, including those sales representatives on the front lines who encounter grey market on a daily basis. Our fight against grey market has been well received and we’ve gotten incredibly passionate feedback from our dealer partners thanking us for taking on this battle.Henry: What message are you trying to send to the dental industry?Wolfe: We know that dental professionals, and our dealer partners alike, highly value the DMG brand and we’re going to do whatever it takes to protect that brand. We want our distribution network to know that we are going to continue to fight to protect their interests as well as the interests of their customers; the clinician and their patients. That’s a promise we’ve made to ourselves, our authorized dealer partners and to the dental community in general, and we proud to honor this.
Editor, ProofsRecently, DMG America was awarded a Federal court injunction against "grey market" distributors. You can read the official release on the injunction by clicking here.After reading the release, I wanted to follow up with George Wolfe, president of DMG America, to get his thoughts on the injunction and the state of the "grey market" in the dental industry.Kevin Henry: Why did you seek this Federal court injunction?George Wolfe: DMG America has always been diligent in trying to stop the sale of grey market products and we’ve taken a number of measures to try to eliminate it. One of those strategies is taking legal action. This is by far the most aggressive stance, but we’ve found that being aggressive works. Henry: Why was it so important to you and DMG America to do this?Wolfe: The answer to that is two-fold. First and foremost, we are concerned about the effect that grey market products can have on the end-user. If a dental professional buys product through legitimate channels, he or she can be guaranteed of the product’s safety and efficacy. We, along with our authorized dealer partners go through painstaking lengths to make sure of that. None of these details can be guaranteed with grey market products. Products on the grey market are often times tampered with, altered or subjected to transport and handling conditions that can seriously affect product quality.Secondly, we are always seeking to protect our authorized dealer network, including those sales representatives on the front lines who encounter grey market on a daily basis. Our fight against grey market has been well received and we’ve gotten incredibly passionate feedback from our dealer partners thanking us for taking on this battle.Henry: What message are you trying to send to the dental industry?Wolfe: We know that dental professionals, and our dealer partners alike, highly value the DMG brand and we’re going to do whatever it takes to protect that brand. We want our distribution network to know that we are going to continue to fight to protect their interests as well as the interests of their customers; the clinician and their patients. That’s a promise we’ve made to ourselves, our authorized dealer partners and to the dental community in general, and we proud to honor this.
