On Thu, Nov 06, 2003 at 12:31:47AM +0000, William T Goodall wrote: > I don't know much about economics so feel free to educate me, but > isn't a big chunk of the wealth of 'Western Industrialized' countries > (USA, Europe, Japan) actually IP ? Levis, Nike, Coke, Raybans is all > stuff that costs very little to make (and is made in countries with > cheap labour if possible) but has a high value because of IP.
The only IP protecting the majority of the products of these companies is trademarks on brand names. You could sell a drink with the same formula as Coke (if you know what it is, I think it is a trade secret) just as long as you don't call it "Coke". Same for blue jeans, shoes (the Nike swish is probably trademarked, but if you slightly changed it then it would be legal to sell a nearly identical shoe). I've seen several companies making sunglasses that look just like Raybans except for the name, and that is legal. > 'Fakes' are illegal, even if those 'fakes' came out the back door of > the same factory that makes the 'real' product. If your "fake" is identical except that you don't put the other companies trademarked name or symbol on it, then it IS legal. -- Erik Reuter http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
