Every 90s sitcom, especially Seinfeld and Friends, made jokes about buying fake designer clothes and jewelry on street corners. It was enough to make you think that every corner of every major city had a table on it full of fake Prada handbags and Swiss-esque watches.
Maybe there were bootleggers on every corner, and maybe there weren’t, but when you read about 400 fake Air Jordan sneakers being ceased by the government, it really makes you wonder about the size of the counterfeit merchandise industry. If they had been real Nike shoes, their value would have been over $50,000. That’s a lot of money for fake sneakers.
Violating intellectual property rights hurts everyone
Nike’s right to maintaining its intellectual property is the same right that allows you to be paid for something you created. If you are in any way dependent on creating something — such as software, beer, articles on the internet — and being paid for it, then you should be as protective of intellectual property rights as anyone else. And in the case of those shoes, the people who are also harmed by counterfeit goods include those that buy them and the people that make them:
- Fake goods steal from the buyers: That $50,000 of Air Jordans would have sold all over Virginia to unsuspecting people paying full price for a lie. Sneakers may not seem that important or expensive, but when you buy a pair of Nikes, you are buying more than shoes; you are buying the name on them and what that means to you. If the name isn’t really supposed to be there, then what did you buy?
- Counterfeits hurt the workers who make them: The money in making knock-off clothes and merchandise comes from people producing a product cheap enough to undersell a certified dealer and good enough to deceive the consumer. For years Nike has fought the image that came with using sweatshops overseas. They stopped. As a consequence, their prices have raised some. Those selling and producing counterfeit Air Jordans, however, likely don’t care about the conditions of their factories.
In the end, someone trying to sell some fake Air Jordans seems like it would only hurt Nike, but in reality, there are many victims. Don’t be one of them. Learn about the ways you can protect your intellectual property.