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Intellectual Property in Fashion? Counterfeit Sneakers and the Knockoff Shoe Industry

By Andis Kaulins

At the New York Times, Nicholas Schmidle has a thought-provoking article Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory in Putian, China.

Given that we have written about Sneakerheads before at LawPundit in Limited-Edition Design Sneakers are the Status Symbols of Choice : CNN : Sneakerheads pay big bucks for rare kicks : Shoes and More, here is our take on Schmidle's article:

Sam Solomon (name changed for the sake of privacy), who had been in the shoe business all of his life and who was a well-known sneakerhead, looked at my new Nike Frees and said, "Your sneakers are not real, they're fake".

"Fake?" I replied, unruffled. "They're not fake. I'm wearing them, am I not? These are real sneakers. I bought them on a business trip from a charming shopkeeper in Putian, China and I've been wearing them ever since. Great shoes."

"Look, these are real", Sam said, pointing at his own two feet, where he was sporting a pair of Nikes Frees identical to mine. "I know what your are thinking. You think they are identical, but they are not. My shoes cost $85 new and yours, I am estimating, cost around $15." Actually, they only cost me $12 as I bargained the price down. And then Sam proceeded to point out the physical differences in the shoes, visible only to a professional eye.

"OK, Sam", I said, "I guess what you are saying is that I have paid $12 for a real shoe but it is not a real Nike Free but only a superbly done copy, but it doesn't matter to me, I like my shoes, and they were a great deal."

"That's not the point", said Sam, "yours are counterfeit. Think of the intellectual property laws."

"I am", I said.

Full post as published by LawPundit on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).