Say you come up with some doohickey in your garage. It doesn't have to be vaping related. It's unique, in fact there isn't a doohickey made with the same ideas you used to make yours. You make it out of quality materials, and people are buying it at $120! Nice! So you contract with a machine shop to make you more, because you can't keep up! Nice! They need CAD files to make your parts, so you contract a guy to do that for you. Nice! The materials are expensive, and the machine shop costs you quite a bit, but you realize that people are willing to pay the price you're asking for your doohickey because it uses good materials, the machining is well done and the design is unique, so you keep building them.
One day you're perusing your favorite doohickey forum, and someone posts "This is exactly like the Buklao doohickey but it only cost me $12" and the thread is blowing up. You look and the design is exactly like yours. It even says "Design by Buklao" on the side! Your orders are drying up. You still owe the machine shop for last month's run, you spent a good sum getting the CAD files prepared, and no one's ordering your doohickey anymore.
So you think "Hey, I know, I'll sue them!" You call a lawyer, and he asks "Who's counterfeiting your doohickey?" You say "Some company in China." He promptly hangs up. Seventeen calls later, you finally find one who'll talk to you, but he demands a $5000 retainer to even begin filing the case, and tells you he bills at $750 an hour. But the retainer would eat up almost all your profit, and at $750/hr your profits will be gone in no time! "The Chinese government is notorious for not pursuing copyright claims" he tells you.
That's how counterfeits are disrespecting original modders.
