When he discovered that several Chinese manufacturers were selling cheap knock-offs of his nature-inspired lights, he was outraged that people were happily buying the inferior product.

And when he saw that the fake version even had his name on them, and that several leading retailers in Australia were selling them, he decided to take on Australia's famously lax intellectual property laws.

In Canberra on Thursday to deliver a keynote address at this year's Design Canberra Festival, he said he had worked for many years to develop a responsibly sourced product that caused minimal harm to both the environment and to the people who manufactured his work.

But his eponymous company lost hundreds of thousands of dollars when the market was suddenly flooded with a crappy version of his sustainably produced lighting designs.

"For me personally, what matters more is the wider implications of what's happening," he said.

"They can [get away with it] in Australia because it's legal, that's the amazing thing, that there is no protection for my moral integrity. I've built up my brand and people respect what we do, and that gives the brand a value, and people cash in on that brand and all the design work."

He decided to take action when a lawyer in Australia told him that if he redefined his product as a work of artistic craftsmanship, he could sue under copyright laws rather than industrial design protection.

"The protection's so scant it's hardly worth it," he said.

"It costs $250 online or $1200 if you do it through a lawyer, but it lasts for five years. You have renew it after five years and that is it. Ten years. In Britain you get 70."

His company issued summons to the various Australian companies that were importing the knock-offs, and while each company initially scoffed at his claim, all eventually settled out of court, even agreeing to pay his costs.

"On the one hand it's a good win for us, but it's a pity we didn't have a legal precedent set," he said.

"[But] it doesn't help all the young kids who are being ripped off every day, young designers who are putting new designs and instantly it's manufactured in China and they've lost it."

And while he has since trademarked his name and staged a public demolition of the container-loads of knock-off lights that were relinquished as part of the settlement, he said he was still concerned about the cultural ramifications of what he saw.

"I'll fight all I can to stop people making cheap stuff because I think it's wrong and we should be learning from what we're doing," he said.

"There's a lot of push at the moment to get the government to change IP protection laws in Australia. If it works in America and Europe, and all the rest of the world that's what the law is, why does Australia have to be different?"