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Profiting from Being Pirated by ‘Pirating’ the Pirates
Author(s) -
Harbi Sana El,
Grolleau Gilles
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2008.00407.x
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , advertising , business , capital (architecture) , marketing , visual arts , art , sociology , anthropology
SUMMARY Pirates are not only copiers, they can also be innovators. They possess skills and a creative capital that allow them to explore new directions. Their innovations can be freely and profitably re‐appropriated by the high‐end designers of the pirated firms. Creative pirates are engaged in a kind of tacit reciprocity, where they appropriate illegally creations of high end designers and launch modified or new versions that can in return inspire in a profitable way, the designers of the original fashion houses. Moreover, pirates can create a pro‐competitive environment that stimulates the innovative abilities of the pirated firm at unexpected levels without piracy.