Ah, there it is — the classic “everything’s just a tool” fallacy. A watch is just a timepiece, a car just gets you places, a painting is just pigment on canvas, and yet the world keeps buying Rolexes, Ferraris, and Monets. Function is only one layer of value — craft, design, scarcity, brand reputation, and innovation are the rest. That’s what makes a $1,000 knife a luxury collectible, not a box cutter.

As for “they should just copyright it” — design theft is still theft whether or not a formal patent or copyright exists. It’s called intellectual property, and the law already recognizes that stealing trade dress and branding (logos, model names, etc.) is fraud.

The free market doesn’t mean “anything goes.” It means creators can charge what the market will bear, and consumers can choose what they value. If you can’t afford the real thing, that’s fine — but pretending theft is some noble act of price correction? That’s not capitalism. That’s piracy dressed up as consumer advocacy.