======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ==== ======= ======= ====== ====== ====== ===== ==== ====== ====== ===== ====
Ever since I saw “Catch Me If You Can,” I always had a soft place in my heart for counterfeiters. I mean, two mice fell in a bucket of cream! So, you can imagine that once I heard that the counterfeit sex toy market had increased exponentially in the last few years, I was pretty excited. All sorts of images went through my head, especially of Leo sitting over the mold of a buttplug, meticulously copying the original, while Tom Hanks desperately runs through a marketplace, picking up dildos, inspecting them, and throwing them away in frustration.
Unfortunately, the reality is much more disturbing than it is a fun, Spielbergian romp. According to a story by Daily Dot, sex toy piracy has actually become a huge problem for the industry. Companies spend millions of dollars in development and marketing for their products, only for overseas manufacturers with fewer governmental restrictions (or copyright issues for that matter) to undercut them immediately. It’s not the copying that’s the problem, however, claimed Peter Phinney, an anti-porn piracy advocate. “That’s just business. But what we are seeing online are counterfeit goods being sold under highly respected brand names that are NOT the merchandise they claim to be. And that’s not competition, that’s just theft and it needs to be called out.”
Even if you don’t really care about corporations having their intellectual property blatantly stolen, sex toy piracy is also dangerous. Companies overseas don’t have the same material and production regulations as US companies, and thus are making their knockoff jackoff pieces with materials (such as melamine) that have been banned for human consumption by the FDA.
In perhaps his most poignant statement, Phinney points out, “Forgive me for being blunt, but would you be interested in sticking electroshock cables up your ass or onto your privates if you knew they were made in China from sub-standard components and not UL listed for safety?”
Good point, Phinney. Hard pass on that.
[via Daily Dot]
Respond
So is butt piracy.
If that glass dildo breaks, you’re gonna have a bad time.