https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/aussie-business-left-crushed-by-chinese-retail-giants-temu-and-shein-after-copycat-designs-c-13930100
‘Do you know what they are made of when you are buying from these places?’
This isn't shocking at all; this is SOP. China takes a shit on all copyrights, patents, trademarks. They steal & duplicate. Walmart was known for buying all things American small business, but then they'd sneak a few samples off to China & say, "Well, look! The Chinese are making your exact same product at x price. Can you match that?" Of course they can't. So Walmart bought the mostly equivalent but shittier goods, from China, to increase their profit margins.
Most recently brought to my attention: Shawn Woods & Rinne Traps USA brought the Flip-N-Slide mousetrap to market. The Chinese started ripping it off immediately.
Until the world calls them on their bullshit & stops buying, the practice is "profitable". We can expect it to continue.
Until the world calls them on their bullshit & stops buying, the practice is "profitable".
Don't fall for neoliberal's "the free market will fix it" bullshit -- it's no more credible than "trickle down" was. It's pushed because it doesn't work and lays the blame on consumers, rather than the people who literally scour the globe searching for the most exploitable workforce.
Regulations could end the practise immediately, which is why they spend millions ensuring those regulations never happen.
We are in agreement; the ultimate blame for the fuckery doesn't lie with consumers. A lot more blame is with the corporations that sneak around, and the governments that do not aggressively punish, eliminate. Your proposed regulation would do a lot to curb it, but with the internet & e-commerce, I doubt it would be universal. Especially with easier to replicate items, trinkets.
The Rinne Slip-N-Slide & the DraftTop are great recent examples. Some random-ass guy in China with a 3D printer sees somebody else's brilliant American idea, and they're like, hey...I can rip these guys off. Maybe they even order a sample or two, to get it perfect.
Consequences for bad behavior would help significantly. The ultimate problem is everyone's lack of morality/care, and this always rings true - - if the crooked ventures were not profitable, they wouldn't even exist. Strictly in theory, we could do our part to fix it on the back end.
The supply lines are there, but it would take someone making the site/app and I'm sure ppl would sign on