So the logic is "if someone can still sell something, who cares if someone steals it"? That's ridiculous.
" I have better stuff to do than Window shop for a $200 piece of glorified pipe I can't afford."
So the truth comes out. Do you apply that to everything? I can't afford a 60 dollar video game! I'll steal it, they will still sell thousands! Also, if it's a 200 dollar glorified pipe, please make me one for cheap! Heck I'll sit you in a room with all the tools you need. I expect an ithaka by the end of the week!
About the only reasons I can see for buying a clone/copy are a) it was a limited production run and the original is impossible to find b) there is like a year long or more wait, if they ever make more.
Your comparison breaks down because video games are widely available and don't suffer from manufactured rarity. If I want the new Halo game or whatever, I go to any number of local stores and have it in my possession within minutes. I realize some games are hard to get on release day or whatever, but you get what I mean.
High end mods are almost ALWAYS out of stock. Having TOO MUCH business is a good problem to have, and if they wanted to, mod makers could expand their business and increase output to come closer to meeting demand. But they choose not to. Either it's too much work for them, or they want to maintain their exclusivity. If they refuse to make their products more available, someone WILL make that product, or a similar product, and have it be more widely available. That's how things work. It seems the Chinese are the ones who truly support capitalism, you make a more popular product YOU WIN period.
It's a double standard anyway. ALL genny devices are copies or the original genny device made by Raidy. Raidy shared his ideas freely and openly and didn't ask for a cent. He released plans for genny devices for people to make and use as long as they aren't profiting from them.
Fast forward to today, we have many many many commercialized genny devices. Maybe zen doesn't care about cloners because he realizes that even his own high-end device is basically a copy of someone else's work with a few modifications, which is basically what ALL clones are.
It's incredibly hypocritical for any high end genny maker out there to vilify clones, and it's just plain ignorant to vilify clones and support high-end gennys, when all high-end gennys are based on a design stolen and used for profit, when it was released for everyone to use free of charge.
And even if people started putting a patent on their products, how would that happen? Who gets a patent on genesis technology? Who gets a patent on a carto? On a simple tube with a switch? On a microprocessor that controls voltage? Who has the right to keep these features as their own? Nobody in my opinion. Patents would kill innovation in the vaping community. The reason the vaping market moves so incredibly fast is because everyone is constantly trying to make a better product.
Right now there are millions of clones everywhere, and the pace of new development and new ideas is still speeding up. It's been proven false that lack of patent protection will stifle advancement (same argument, and it's always wrong) because right now we have basically zero patent protection and STILL are experiencing light speed advancement.
The tech and methods are open source basically. But companies still have a right to keep their brand. I don't think there is anything wrong with chinese stuff that's similar to other products. I don't think it's OK to make a perfect 100% copy and brand it with the same name and then sell it. Then your not really stealing a product's design, which everyone already does and is no biggie, your stealing their brand and reputation.
