A realistically priced widely available authentic would make the clones pretty much non existent.
Limited availability, extreme pricing, and global hype create a demand, that the original Modder can't or won't fill.
This is why clones exist.
I don't find the first statement to be accurate. But let's pretend the last statement (which seeks to validate the first) is accurate. I again am expressing no (practical) issue with this. Just the principled one. And am saying without the principles in effect, then I don't get why some have serious issue with deceptive counterfeiting. They do exist. They will likely continue to exist regardless of some people's opinions on that or if they feel it is 'just plain wrong.'
Then again, if the original Modder only makes 500
mods and sells them all, why care about clones?
The Modder has already made all the available profit.
IMO, the answer to this is why care about the profit if you are cloner? If it isn't about the money from that perspective, then why not just give it over to whomever is deemed the originator? Me, personally, I wouldn't advocate for going in that direction, but would say that whatever copycats exist, it would make
sense that some of the gross profits/revenue from that market stream ought to go to those who came up with the original design. Let's say that's not easy to determine, then I would suggest setting aside an account if it is pretty much well known that it is a clone, for that type type of payment to be made upon some future date. If at some future date the person/company who is determined to be the originator says - go ahead and absolutely keep all revenue, plus local and/or national judicial systems are in the loop deeming that perfectly acceptable, then I see no issue.
But as long as consumers are involved in the practice of non-deceptive counterfeiting, then it strikes me as they are party to defraud. Akin to if a person/group steals products from some place and offers that for resale to buyers who are say told, 'just so you know we stole all of this from that place over there. You are free to not purchase it, or are free to share in these goods that we are marking down at a reduced rate, so that no one here has to pay what 'we' deem to be too high of a price for this product. Therefore no one is being deceived in this process. All should be happy. If this goes well, we will continue to do this indefinitely and justify it as okay because there is clearly a market for these items and no one is being deceived about what is occurring.'
