Illicit Means

To me this is a funny topic because who doesn’t like the idea of something for free or something for nothing or even for less than its value. The moral to the video in the end stated the problem will never be solved until or unless the people trying to stop it take a look at the demand. I totally agree, personally I don’t give a shit about knockoffs or piracy and the problem it causes. If you asked me it’s just two groups of people saying to one another they can and will sell a product for what they think its value truly is because the people they associate with say they can.
On one side you have government, free trade agreements, copywriting, brand identity, registered trademarks and a company with the right to use produce and sell that product for whatever they think its worth, 2-3 or more times it’s initial or resale value. The government protects the company’s right to the product and threatens to stop lookalike or knockoff products.
On the other side you have people who are part of a chain of networks that undermine the authority of protection and in-turn participate in the production of the same products which become for sale to the same demographic only for a cheaper price than the originals.
Here’s my argument: If the same people who created the originals would sell the products based on a profit percentage and not a greed incentive their product knockoff would have a hard time to compete. Yet here you have a government who protects the greed and rights of these companies to allow product inflation to the point a product is bought not for its use but to identify class representation among society.
I feel everyone should have the right to protect an idea or creation, DON’T TELL ANYONE! Short of that if you let the cat out of the bag and someone steals or copies your idea the only thing you can do is… “Be better than they are…be the best.” That is the only recourse you should have, not laws, jail or crime. It would allow the best products to be produced and at the most cost efficient price.
So even though I’m studying Graphic Design and I would hate to have my ideas stolen only to watch someone else make money off them. I say this… “I’m going to use everything I can get my hands on digitally from the internet, analyze it and come up with my own ideas to sell and market. Once I get there I will look only to myself to be the best at what I do because that is where true competition lies, within yourself.” I will not look to a government for protection or a (piece of paper) patent that says it’s my idea just because some paper issuing patent people said so; I don’t want any part of the courts or law. Point blank if I’m there in the first place it’s because someone figured out how to do the same thing only better. And I’m not in the business of being right or first. I’m in the business of being the best and making money.
I watched a movie last night called Flash of Genius, and in it the man claims although Dickens did not invent the English language, or even a single word in the English dictionary, yet the book “A Tale of Two Cities” is his, and the order of the words he used in the book make it his creation and no one else’s. All Dickens did is rearrange the pieces of an already existing puzzle to create his own work of art. Someone could say “…that’s not his; he would have to invent his own language and then write it for it to be his.” How stupid is that? The point I’m making is once something is created, invented, and shown to the world it’s every ones idea, the first person to get to the bank is the smart one, the real genius!
Stealing people’s ideas and profiting off them keeps commerce in check and keeps governments and greedy corporations from running away with supply, demand and all the profits. That concept rules the global market, no government, country, mafia or cartel can control it entirely. Because if they could their profit margin would be no different from the companies they protect, like Louis Vuitton.