We need to be more clear about what's a fake or a ripoff. An Ego LCD, for example, is neither. It never says anywhere that it is a Joyetech product.
The problem is that the "Ego" has become a type of ecig, and is not synonymous with the brand.
If a vendor is knowingly selling non-joye Egos and calling them a joye product, then they are practically begging for bad press. I think the vast majority are genuine when they say they are. I don't believe this widespread conspiracy that counterfeit joyetechs are as prolific as people claim. Just don't expect anything named an Ego to be made by Joye. Look for the actual word "Joyetech" or "Joye" in the item description and you will almost always be getting the real thing, imo.
You are correct - and this discussion is actually a very difficult one to have for vendors and vapers alike - as we have very little real internal information on what goes on with the designers, the factories, with internal designs, with who's copying who and what and when.
Joyetech and Janty released the first eGos. Of that there is little doubt. Within days though - nearly every manufacturer had a version of the "eGo" available. Whether that was part of a technology race, sharing or stealing secret designs or creating knocks offs - well - probably a bit of all combined and no way to verify any of it.
We all saw the tech race between microsoft and apple - but in a different context - in a country where legalities prevent direct copying and ironclad non-disclosure agreements prevent secretly sharing information. So while both companies created similar looking devices, that accomplished similar things - the differences were also astounding.
With the eGo most manus called their version "eGo" regardless of whether it was a copy or original design with the same body type and connectors. It's still true today that the internals of different PV's named "eGo" can be vastly different from one another.
EX: one of the first to the market was a 5V, non pwm - sharing only the body style and connector of the eGo. Everything under the hood was different. Two others released within months of that were blatent knock offs - while another had quite original internals but wasn't well made and didn't last.
Now though - there are dozens of PV's calling themselves "eGo" that bear no relationship to the original on the inside - and often have structural differences on the exterior as well.
For the Booster issue mentioned earlier - this unit requires a specific internal configuration - found in the Joyetech eGo and verified in only a small handful of others.
My wish list - we'll see more original names for new PV's and less confusion.