If The Handbag Industry Took After The MPAA

from the not-all-that-far-fetched dept

Lauren sent in an amusing spoof put together by a website about handbags, looking at how the handbag industry would be different if it had the equivalent of the MPAA around. It’s an amusing little satire, with things like demands that you not appear on YouTube with a handbag and getting threatened with lawsuits for sharing handbags. Then, of course there’s Handbag Rights Management, which pisses off legitimate handbag buyers, but the industry insists is necessary to stop copying.

Of course, this might not be as far-fetched as it seems. Remember the 17th century French button makers? They tried to do something along these lines. And, the fashion industry (including handbag makers) have been pushing for new intellectual property restrictions, and claiming that if they don’t get them, counterfeit fashion items will help terrorists (which is one of the points in the spoof post too!). It appears that truth may have beaten fiction to the punch line.

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Companies: mpaa, riaa

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Comments on “If The Handbag Industry Took After The MPAA”

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28 Comments
Sam says:

Makes better sense now

The person who supplied this link misses a point that makes the actual article more important.
Many people like me – old enough to remember 8-tracks and records and busy with parts of life that don’t include ripping music for fun or profit – haven’t paid attention to the events of the music and movie industry. This article brings to light some of the points that I as a casual observer have missed.

Comment 1. “Except its much harder to make an unlimited number of perfect copies of handbags”
Reply 1. Article’s purpose is to ‘what if’ the situation of the movie and music industries on any other product, thereby helping those of us who haven’t been following the RIAA or MPAA situation understand the problem without all the technology talk that you guys usually use when discussing this situation.

Comment 2. “This article is crap. I’m sorry, but there’s no point, and the comparison between digital music/movie copying, and handbags, is just as crap.”
Reply 2. The article isn’t comparing those two subjects, just using one to help explain the other. I am aware of the things that are happening in the industry, but I didn’t understand some of the problems they are causing.

I don’t rent movies, buy new music, or burn copies of stuff for my friends. Until reading this article I didn’t know that some cds or movies will only work on one player, or in my country but not another, or that if I downloaded music I can’t put it on a CD, or that some of the people selling those rip off copies are sending the money they make to support terrorists. I sort of figured it was a bunch of Annonymous Cowards selling to their friends so they could buy porn and drugs. This article helped me understand the problem. Thanks!

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Brilliant

Of course! Loud music must be pirated, im pretty sure the RIAA has been quoted saying that (haha) ^_^
Also remember that if you don’t go to church every sunday or hold your spoon with your right hand your music is pirated and if you don’t drive an american made car your music is pirated and if your toilet doesnt flush counter-clockwise and…

Anonymous Coward says:

This article is somewhere between utter bullshit and the greatest thing there ever was. There either was a point or there wasn’t.

Look, some folks aren’t going to like it. Some folks are just trolls. Remember, arguing on the internet is like winning the special Olympics. Sure, you won, but you’re still a huge fucking retard.

Anonymous Coward says:

Sam, I’m sorry that you live in the dark ages. Its still a bad analogy as handbags cannot be copied in the same way mp3s can. The what if part has not happened with handbags because they are not so easy to copy. The problem at hand applies to goods that are available in unlimited quantities – where anyone can make perfect copies.

No Six Pack says:

Re: Re:

“handbags cannot be copied in the same way mp3s can”

….. Duh

“The what if part has not happened with handbags”

….. Enter the following in Google search
counterfeit handbag

“Its still a bad analogy”

….. I took the linked article as satirical humour and as such I laughed my ass off. Too bad you did not enjoy it.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

The only solution to a greatly overblown “solution” is an equally or greater solution to that “solution”. I say anarchy and rebellion. Call out the minute men!!
Lol, I love reading the comments on these things. Especially when people are just like “This article is crap” without ever saying why. We can tell your opinion is of great value by the amount of work you put into explaining it ^_^

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