I applaud Hana for moving this issue forward. The first one through the wall always gets bloody.
Opinions Only. I won't argue.
1. No logos is the way to go. Until that ends as well. Next to electronics, this is one of the only
markets I've seen where you can walk into a B&M, and the counterfeits are openly displayed, and sold as inventory.
Blows my mind. A replica with a logo is a counterfeit. Period.
Also consider that it's probably illegal (mail fraud in the USA?) to pay business taxes on counterfeits.
2. No counterfeiter can, or will, guarantee the quality of the materials. A replica of a high-end device will not be produced
with the same quality metals, and if they say it is ... how would you believe them anyway? Bad steel, bad silver, bad copper,
bad brass, and bad gold is harmful. We stopped smoking because it's poison. You think inhaling fumes from pot
metal won't kill you? Think again.
3. Yes, it's not hard to push electricity from point A to point B, even using crap metal. If the voltage drop on your counterfeit
is better than my original ... I could care less. The choice to own what we want is all of ours. If you are happy, so am I.
4. Counterfeiters will produce replicas with no logos if that's what the distributors/retailers ask for. Meaning, to change
the market, and ask for replicas.
5. The majority of mod builders are small space craftspeople; and not in a position to "lawyer up" in the first place.
The reason you have to buy counterfeit clothing, purses, watches, etc. from behind a curtain in a back room off of
Canal Street (enter your local black market here), is the companies being ripped off have legal teams that handle this stuff.
6. If a designer/builder wants to sell a nifty e-cig for $5000.00, that's up to them. It's a niche within a niche.
- I'll admit right now that I have a borrowed no logo replica in my possession this week. Would I pay nearly $300.00
for the original? Yes. Why? Because that's how much the builder sells it for. I guess "elitists" pay retail.(?)
Wow -
Shy of actually using lead and/or mercury (or something truly exotic like uranium, I suppose), I think it would be very difficult indeed to have "crap metal" create any "fumes" at the energy levels we're using. In fact, I'd pay to see any actual, verifiable evidence of "crap steel" make any kind of harmful byproduct at the applicable energy and temperatures.
Also - to say that "A replica of a high-end device will not be produced with the same quality metals" is erroneous. In many cases these so called high end devices are produced with rather cheap materials, and are sold at very high prices due to the precision in machining and the cost of prototyping / development. There's a fair bit of profit markup in there too for no other reason than it seems the market will bear it.
Your points 3-6 though, are right on the money.
Intellectually, I do not like the basic premise of counterfeiting, nor even 1:1 replicas without logos. In many, many cases these are just metal tubes, it's not that hard to make a new one that's different enough to not be a direct copy. Even in Hana's case, they bought a bunch of aluminum boxes and put the evolv chip in them. Whoop dee. The logo was the dealbreaker for this case.
Not liking the idea of counterfeiting doesn't, on the other hand make me delusional enough to believe that this is some magic watershed moment when it's all going to start falling apart. If you believe that, then I have a great deal for ya on this bridge...
Nor does it mean that I think there was any good that actually came of this.
