Intellectual property or what’s left of it

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc./LMMiami.com

• If you read my columns frequently, you already know that intellectual property is one of my obsessions.
• I am a staunch defender of private property, intellectual or otherwise.
• However, I tend to believe that originality is overrated.
• I mean: I’m all for enforcing the patent of, say, a new drug to treat a life-threatening disease which took years and dozens of millions of dollars of research, development and FDA approvals.
• Not so much if we are talking about some lame trap song with idiotic lyrics posted by some teenager on social media.
• Not sure a glorified meme is entitled to cry piracy.
• Let alone demand protection from our already congested legal system.
• See, what we consider intellectual property has changed dramatically throughout the centuries.
• We must be pragmatic about it: it boils down to what’s enforceable and what’s not.
• Especially if the public at large is willing to be complicit and look the other way.
• Let me tell you a little story in that regard.
• Custo Barcelona is a fashion brand based out of, you guessed it, Barcelona, Spain.
• Or Catalonia, depending on who you ask.
• It’s been around for a little over two decades.
• It’s been successful enough to expand internationally.
• While not prohibitive, its products tend to be on the pricey side.
• The brand’s claim to fame was, is, its line of t-shirts and blouses with colorful designs.
• The problem: a t-shirt design is quite easy to imitate.
• The barriers to entry to its niche are quite low.
• Custo Barcelona is seriously vulnerable to me-too brands.
• Namely Desigual, a lower priced brand headquartered in Barcelona too.
• A few years ago, Custo Dalmau, founder and head designer of his namesake brand, unwittingly made a marketing faux pas: he openly accused Desigual of plagiarizing his ideas.
• It backfired royally.
• Next thing you know, Custo’s sales took a dive and Desigual’s shot up.
• Morale of the story: consumers don’t seem to be too interested in originality or intellectual property after all.
• The masses seem to be more than happy to consume me-toos, knockoffs and pirated products if the price is right.
• The proverbial moral hazard: the incentive to break the rules, written or otherwise, is inversely proportional to the chance of getting caught &/or punished.