Pirate capitalism: remix culture goes corporate

In 2006, completing the great circle of recycling, Disneyland altered the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride to include an animatronic Johnny Depp.

In an effort to explain this mash-up landscape, Mason turns, with mixed success, to the last days of disco, to the early days of tagging NewYork subway cars, and to economic game theory. The most apt parallel, though, is to an industry known for its fickleness. Video and music companies are slowly realizing something that the world of fashion--with its markedly more relaxed attitude toward intellectual property--has always known. In the words of Coco Chanel, who long ruled the fashion world with an iron fist and a quilted handbag,"a fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion."

In a 2006 Virginia Law Review article, "The Piracy Paradox," Kal Raustiala and Chris Springman made the case that "induced obsolescence" is the fashion industry's healthy way of shrugging off the impact of copying while still remaining relevant. Logos can be protected--via trademark law, not copyright--but there's nothing illegal about selling a purple head-scarf that looks a lot like the purple headscarf in Ralph Lauren's last collection. Ralph simply announces that eyepatches are all the rage now and purple headscarves are so last season. This keeps fashion fresh and the industry strong, all with very weak intellectual property protection. As Coco said, "Fashion is made to become unfashionable."

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This isn't to say that all designers sit idly by while $30 versions of $5,000 purses show up on the street. The Paris-based Hermes in particular has been aggressive about protecting its logos and certain additional trademarkable design elements. Still, the relationship between Chinese knock-offs and couture may be mutually beneficial in the end.

"We don't like the model but we realize it's competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward;' Disney's Sweeney said in her speech. Mason puts it another way, using awfully similar language: "Pirates have taken over the good ship capitalism, but they're not here to sink it. Instead, they will plug the holes, keep it afloat, and propel it forward"

Katherine Mangu-Ward (kmw@reason.com) is an associate editor of reason.

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