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Article posted Apr 10 2013, 3:15 AM

Category: Politics/Corruption

Source: InformationLiberation

NY Councilwoman Seeks Year in Prison, $1,000 Fine for Buying Knockoff Handbags

Chris | InformationLiberation

What better way to increase demand for your products than jailing anyone who buys from your competition?

Via MyFoxNY:

New York City Councilwoman Margaret Chin wants to make it a crime to buy counterfeit handbags in Chinatown.

The bill would slap buyers with a maximum $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison.

The purpose of the legislation is to lessen the demand for the fake designer goods including Gucci, Prada and Chanel knock off purses.

"We want a deterrent. We want them (visitors) to seek out the good things we have. We just have to put a stop to it," Chin said in an interview on Good Day New York.

Jailing them and fining them a thousand dollars sounds like the perfect solution.

Knockoffs are perfectly legitimate copies of premium goods manufactured with cheaper materials to create a lower cost end product. Creating a knockoff does not deprive the initial creator of a good of their product, it merely creates a lower cost imitation good.

The value of the knockoff is in no way equal to the original product so long as it's made with worse materials and lesser craftsmanship, therefor it should not be a threat to the original producer's business. The original producer always has the option to produce poor quality knockoffs of their own products, they choose not to because they feel they can make more money producing higher quality goods which they sell for a premium.

Far from further criminalizing knockoffs, they should be decriminalized entirely. If we need someone to fill the jails lets start with politicians like Margaret Chin.
_
Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.

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Comments 1 - 7 of 7

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Peter

Posted: Apr 10 2013, 6:56 AM

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81161

You don't get it, do you ?
The issue here is that the rich bitches want their silly 5000$ bags to them selves, they don't want to see the plebs waltzing around pretending to be 'cool' !

Anonymous

Posted: Apr 10 2013, 8:01 AM

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108251

just arrest and fine the manufactures....
NOT the buyers.

That will solve your problem.

Put the businesses out of business.....
lets see how long your career will last.

dougo

Posted: Apr 10 2013, 9:37 AM

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687

there is maximum revenue made by letting the manufacture of conterfeit goods continue[1 criminal]when you hit the buyers and do the mutiiplucation.you can continue to arrest.fine.and jail people[10's of 1,000's of criminals] and continue to hire more ,brainwahed,myopic,pigs and their minions,they are grasping at straws because the current/past polititions/cops have lost the country and refuse to see the problems and come up with real solutions,only more laws againest the pop..asssholes.of course we voted for them on the honor system and many dishonored their positions.U.S now stands for united stupidity.

Anonymous

Posted: Apr 10 2013, 9:50 AM

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20138

This has been going on in Europe (Italy may be the most rabid about it) for years now. It's literally insane as a law. For one thing, it puts the onus on the buyer to even KNOW what is a counterfeit. Up til now they have used the "if you know this costs 500 dollars normally and you buy it for 40 it's counterfeit" which in itself is moronic, but more than that...
I'm NO fashionista...up until recently I never heard of Jimmy Choos or whatever. I've been in Italy, needed sunglasses, and bought cheapo ones from a stand on the beach. I know Ray Ban, but that's about it, so if there is some counterfeit sunglass, I wouldn't KNOW it. I have no DUTY to keep current on what is designer merchandise.
I just wanted some sunglasses. Later found I could have been fined way more than 100 bucks, AND jail time. Imagine that.

Anonymous

Posted: Apr 13 2013, 8:19 AM

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74196

This City Councilwoman Margaret Chin should be shot into space. Any law that targets the buyer and not the source is so crazy. Oh wait I forgot. Drug War. Nevermind it must be ok then.

Anonymous

Posted: Apr 13 2013, 8:25 AM

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74196

Here is her email chin@council.nyc.gov

Please share thoughts....

Anonymous

Posted: Jun 18 2013, 3:32 PM

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166147

This wont pass constitutional muster, and as soon as someone is sent to jail for this the ACLU is going to eat this law alive! This is simply scapegoating the consumer because the manufacturers are too hard to go after. Let me say, I totally agree that Coach, or Luis vitton copyrights should be protected, but COPYrights are violated when the COPYING happens not by the purchase of item.

Should we go and arrest all the owners of iPhone 3GS? Because they were recently found to violate Samsung patents?
How does one KNOW something is a "knock off"? I have to be intimately aware of all designes used in all consumer goods and be able to identify when a brands product design too closely resembles another's design! Oh, I also have to have knowledge of every company's cross licensing agreements as well, because, that questionable design may have been produced under license.

Seems like a completely reasonable demand for an average consumer to buy a simple consumer good.

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