Buyers of Fake Designer Goods

This article discusses the buyers of fake designer goods. It states that the people who buy counterfeit goods should be fined up to $1000 and/or imprisoned for doing so. This is a bit absurd considering how many people have committed this crime. As a shopper, I do appreciate the real and authentic fashion items that many name brands have, but at the same time, I have the choice as to what I want to buy. If I see an item that I think is of great benefit to me, I am going to buy it, whether or not it is or isn’t a fake designer good. If it should be illegal to buy these “fake designer goods,” then it should be illegal to sell them in the first place. This is one of those cases where you need to treat the problem at the source. If there were more severe rules/ consequences for the vendors, then, you would not have as many instances of people purchasing fake goods. As for the people who are frustrated because they bought the authentic bag and others did not, it all comes down to a choice, and if you chose to spend on the authentic bag, as oppose to the fake bag, then that is your own problem. This could in a way be considered rent seeking, except in this case, the “rent seeker” is simply benefiting by obtaining their integrity. It is also rent seeking, because if this were to take place, not many people would buy the bags therefore eliminating endless possibilities of a voluntary trade. This would in fact hurt the market, as oppose to help the market. Making this a legal issue is a bit ridiculous considering there are more important things to worry about.

http://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2013/06/14/new-york-city-considers-jail-fine-for-buyers-of-fake-designer-goods