Crying Foul
Yes, copyright laws are meant to protect copyright holders from counterfeit flattery. Name-brand luxury items that enterprising entrepreneurs identify as potential money makers for themselves are taking away profit from license-holders and that rankles.
Pirating of licensed products through illegal downloading of music from the Internet, counterfeit-producing inferior products to undersell the genuine products, all present as problems to those who sell the original products at inflated prices and see their sales plummet.
The wide and widening availability of cheap knock-offs from China is an unstoppable phenomenon. Although many products are seized and the goods taken out of circulation, far more make it to the consumer resulting in the authorized version of the product simply sitting and getting dusty on retail merchants' shelves.
And those who take advantage of the opportunity to buy the knock-offs feel pretty good about the bargains they've taken advantage of. The Internet is an outstanding source for these goods. Area flea markets with small-time, week-end sellers another.
And that's the thing; the 'good' merchants who don't stock the knock-offs are left with their goods languishing, so they and the product manufacturers and government agencies take steps to inform people of copyright law and illicit and licit practices in sales.
People are informed through advertising and public relations initiatives that they're engaging in illegal activities buying those counterfeits. In the process they're denying the original designers, the authentic manufacturers, their just due. Of course, their 'just due' is comprised of a hefty profit for a product whose value has been vastly inflated.
Little wonder that consumers look elsewhere for a product resembling one that the brand names produce, but at a much lower cost. And here's the thing of it: both the brand name product and the knock-offs are produced where? China, of course.
The brand-name manufacturers complain that they can tell a knock-off by a quick glance; it's an inferior product. Cheaper materials are used in the construction, less attention to details; resulting in a product that won't last. But the truth is, there is built-in obsolescence in most products these days, and nothing lasts.
If there wasn't such an enormous gap in price - not value - between the name-brand product and the knock-off, it's likely there'd be little room for the producers to complain, they'd sell their product. As long as there's a ten-times differential in cost as currently pertains, the situation will simply continue.
Pirating of licensed products through illegal downloading of music from the Internet, counterfeit-producing inferior products to undersell the genuine products, all present as problems to those who sell the original products at inflated prices and see their sales plummet.
The wide and widening availability of cheap knock-offs from China is an unstoppable phenomenon. Although many products are seized and the goods taken out of circulation, far more make it to the consumer resulting in the authorized version of the product simply sitting and getting dusty on retail merchants' shelves.
And those who take advantage of the opportunity to buy the knock-offs feel pretty good about the bargains they've taken advantage of. The Internet is an outstanding source for these goods. Area flea markets with small-time, week-end sellers another.
And that's the thing; the 'good' merchants who don't stock the knock-offs are left with their goods languishing, so they and the product manufacturers and government agencies take steps to inform people of copyright law and illicit and licit practices in sales.
People are informed through advertising and public relations initiatives that they're engaging in illegal activities buying those counterfeits. In the process they're denying the original designers, the authentic manufacturers, their just due. Of course, their 'just due' is comprised of a hefty profit for a product whose value has been vastly inflated.
Little wonder that consumers look elsewhere for a product resembling one that the brand names produce, but at a much lower cost. And here's the thing of it: both the brand name product and the knock-offs are produced where? China, of course.
The brand-name manufacturers complain that they can tell a knock-off by a quick glance; it's an inferior product. Cheaper materials are used in the construction, less attention to details; resulting in a product that won't last. But the truth is, there is built-in obsolescence in most products these days, and nothing lasts.
If there wasn't such an enormous gap in price - not value - between the name-brand product and the knock-off, it's likely there'd be little room for the producers to complain, they'd sell their product. As long as there's a ten-times differential in cost as currently pertains, the situation will simply continue.
Labels: Economy, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ 7:37 PM
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