Another reader wrote: "This is the theft of the Walt Disney Corporations intellectual property and you want to profit from it?! It's you x's thousands like you that create a huge problem which drives up cost to protect Disney trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents & trade secrets. This strikes at the very heart of American commerce." We support American commerce (although we're not sure what portion of Disney's revenue is derived from outsourcing and foreign manufacturing). And we certainly don't want to chip away at Disney $30 billion in merchandise revenue by encouraging anyone to sell DIsney pinatas at local crafts fair. But we think you may have picked the wrong company as an example of an IP victim. Disney was a key lobbyist in the land grab resulting in what is known as the Mickey Mouse Extension Act (and earning twenty years of extra revenue for little Mick). And let's not be naive about IP. Intellectual property, as David Pressman so aptly put it, is a hunting license and some companies have turned infringement into a profit center with their selective enforcement. Anyway, we've got no gripes against Walt -- after all his people combined social justice and licensed characters when they opened up the Magic Kingdom to gay marriage. So, like we said, we'll be careful in the future not to give the nod to piñata poachers.
|