COPYCATS: Where fashion and pharmaceuticals meet

Copycats are every industry’s nightmare. Consumers are becoming more budget-conscious and many start to favour generic products than brand names. Major companies should implement rational measures to guarantee profit against product-stealing and low-cost copycats. Consumer behaviour should also be taken into consideration to retain their old customers and acquire new ones.

One is an utter luxury; the other is a necessity of life. Although the fashion and pharmaceutical industries are worlds apart in terms of products, both face a very similar challenge – copycats who sense an opportunity to produce lower-cost versions of the original product. In the case of pharmaceuticals, the production of generic versions of popular medications is a common event once the patent protection of the developer expires. In 2016, generic pharmaceuticals accounted for over $100 billion of the total spending on medicines in the United States.¹ For fashion designers, the burgeoning fast-fashion industry excels at taking hot new designs and quickly making them available to the masses. In either case, a firm that spent its time and resources to develop a unique product sees its hard-won advantage eliminated by a copycat. At the same time, consumers are faced with a choice – purchase the expensive original or take a chance on the low-cost version.

Whether we view copycats as predatory imitators who steal designs for their own profit or as a type of Robin Hood, bringing hyper-expensive products into reach for the masses, the question of how a designer of new, innovative products should react to the threat of copycats is still valid. Despite extensive lamentation by fashion designers, enforcing copyright claims against fast-fashion retailers remains both difficult and rare.² Similarly, pharmaceutical manufacturers face not only patent expiration, but also significant risk of public backlash if they are perceived as limiting supplies to consumers.

A prime example is the recent outcry against Mylan over its pricing of the emergency allergy treatment, EpiPen. Facing imminent FDA approval of a generic version of the EpiPen (from generic drug titan Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.), Mylan shocked consumers and regulators by dramatically raising prices of its EpiPen product (by over 400%). This led to accusations of price gouging, particularly when FDA's approval of Teva’s product was delayed, leaving Mylan with a virtual monopoly. Many observers offered explanations for the price increase, ranging from price gouging to condemnation of the pharmaceutical patent process itself. However, it is also possible that Mylan’s move was a rational reaction to an impending generic version of the EpiPen. In another situation involving Teva, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International dramatically, “When Teva Pharmaceuticals announced recently that it would begin selling a copycat version of Syprine – an expensive drug invented in the 1960s – the news seemed like a welcome development for people taking old drugs that have skyrocketed in price.”