prominent fashion designers in the U.S. are pushing for federal legislation that would offer three years of copyright-like protection for designs ranging from dresses and shoes to belts and eyeglass frames.What do you think of this idea? Copyrights protect intellectual property and give people more incentive to create new ideas. However, they also create temporary monopolies and drive up the price of the goods in question. Copyrights already cover written material, songs, etc. Do you think copyrights should be extended to fashions?
(Source: Greg Mankiw's Blog)
4 comments:
No! They should not be allowed to do that. Yeah, fine, they did create the original designs for the garments, belts, shoes, etc...But now they are trying to stop fakes? Sure, the concept sounds good but how are you going to stop those who sell merchandise on the streets of New York? You can't completely stop it. Why pay an outrageous amount for a particular good, when you can pay a quarter of the price for one that isn't truely "authentic"? Certain clothing lines charge way too much anyway, so why should we pay for something that isn't really worth an absurd amount of money?
-Veronica
i agree with veronica on the fact that stopping the fakes would be near impossible. Look at the case with napster, kazaa, and limewire with music. Sure the government tried to stop it but they have gotten nearly nowhere with the exception of having to pay for napster, which nobody uses anymore anyway. Cd cases have labesls on them that say not to pirate the music but people dont listen. Why would the government think that copyrighting the clothing/accessories would do anything. also taking the vendors out of new york and other major areas would cause a huge loss of income which would nagatively effect the economy being that they would be replaced by monopolies. I also think that the effort put forward to take out these bootleggers would not be worth the cost. People will get around it and plus, many of these fakes cost between $5-30. A pair of fake oakleys cost all of $5 so many of the people who buy these probably wouldnt have enough money to buy real ones anyway and would end up getting some sunglasses at eckerd or cvs instead. i dont think that copyrighting would give that much more to a clothing manufacturer. people will also come up with new ideas in addition to the fakes which would further reduce sales of the copyrighted good.
-austin lintault
I agree with Veronica and Austin. Copyrighting should not be allowed to enter the fashion industry because it is not feasible. You will never be able to stop people from making fake Louis Vuitton purses, Coach shoes, or Burberry scarves. Vendors will continue to make them as long as people still want to wear/carry them. The people that are buying these “knock offs” are buying them because they either do not have the money to buy the real thing or they do not think the real thing is worth all that money. The fashion industry makes “$335 billion-a-year” and some of those profits come from the copies (http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/576). People take their designs from everywhere, and something that serves as inspiration for one designer could be considered copying by the next. I also think that people should have the right to choose whether they want the authentic item or not. Creating a monopoly for a Dooney and Burke purse does not make me want to buy it more. It just means that I will take my money and spend it somewhere that I can get a purse at a realistic price. The designers that came up with the ideas still get all the credit, and everyone knows what the fakes are trying to imitate. If people have a problem carrying around the fake, then let them spend their own money and buy the real thing. I say that maybe there could be certain rules on how close the knock off could be from the real thing, but give people a chance to choose how authentic they need their item to be. The big time brand names are still raking in tons of money, and a black underground market of Gucci could become nasty...
-Natalie Halpern
I agree with veronica, austin, and natalie. The government should not be allowed to copyright fashion. Like natalie said, designers get their ideas from other designers. Also, austin made a good point in saying that people will get around the copyrights and sell the fakes. Yes there is a large group of the population that would rather pay $30 for a purse instead of $300, but many people are still willing to pay the ridiculous prices of designers.
-carolyn
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