Why We Can't Have Nice Things examines the very timely issue of crowdsourced intellectual property (IP) regulations. Minh-Ha T. Pham studies intellectual property regulations in the context of “everyday social media activities that emerge around issues of fashion creativity and copying” (3). In fact, creativity and copying form the two binary poles of the threshold against which users of social media as well as fashion conglomerates decide whether a fashion item is inspired by X or whether it is considered a copycat. The evaluation of a fashion product as being inspired by clearly is appreciative of the fashion designer's creativity. Reading a fashion item as a copycat and fake, by contrast, calls for the sanctioning of the item's producers. Within the fashion industry, the book particularly focuses on the exclusive realm of haute couture.
Pham identifies social media users’ activities of liking, sharing, and commenting on social media content about...
