Throwing a Tantrum

The July 20 “Lights Out” photo spread documenting the mass destruction of a quarter of a million imitations of the popular Mag-lite and Mini-Maglite flashlights must have brought a tear to the eye and a smile to the lips of every manufacturer with a product currently challenged by illegal knockoffs. However, such wanton fury in the name of protecting profits and market advantage leaves me cold.

Why not simply confiscate illegally copied products and donate them to countries or organizations that can put them to good use? After all, don’t U.S. capitalists have enough court rulings and tax laws on their side already to find a way to profit from the resulting writeoffs? This offer is only good, though, for those products with some intrinsic social value, so that leaves out an awful lot of goods “Made in the USA.”

In any case, be assured that I will never ever buy another Mag-lite product after their little tantrum.

MIKE MCGRAW

San Diego