what are your views on counterfeit knives?

[Richard J]

there has been a lot of talk over the years about knock offs selling as the real thing. i think its low down and dirty dealing and there needs to be worldwide laws against it and a way to prosecute the ones doing it. it doesnt matter if the knife is just as good as the real thing. if someone buys brand x and pays good money for that brand they should get what they paid for.

[culpeper]

The best deterrent is for the buyer to beware. It's no different than people sharing copyright music and movies on the Internet. It's very difficult to prevent with some people complaining about one and participating in the other. People do go to jail. But not enough to stop the flow. Most political resources are going towards knife rights as opposed to knife knockoffs. So, manufacturers need to use their own resources through the civil court system. Something they are not willing to spend money on because it is cheaper to just lose money over the knockoffs. When manufacturers do spend enough resources to shut down an operation they discover that the culprits crop right back up at a different location. Nevertheless, knife knockoffs are damaging to the legitimate knife industry. These companies are mostly privately owned and their gross receipts are not public. But I can assure you that they don't sell as many knives as people think. Example, Bark River has a nice consumer following. But the size of the operation is a good indication that they are not producing on a massive level. In fact, they are producing just enough from one business cycle to the next, which is only normal for a small company. But because of their designs and methods they are ripe for knockoffs. The company just doesn't have enough resources to fight a massive influx of knockoffs if that was to occur. And it wouldn't take much to make fake copies. These days middle of the road quality knives priced at a premium is just as much a ripoff as the knockoffs.

I tried looking for knockoffs not too long ago and had a hard time. I guess you need to know exactly where to look and I'm not in the loop.

[Madnumforce]

Well, there is some kind of hypocisy about it. More and more brands produce "their" knife in China, Japan, Taiwan, etc... and make much profit of it, using their brand name and reputation. Often, the quality is less than if it was made in the country. Some companies are clear about it, Spyderco and Benchmade don't cheat with it, and the price is often in consequence of the production country. For these, i would agree counterfeits are not tolerable, but for those who play with the customer avertising "american strength", "american pride", etc... i would say that finally, counterfeits, even though illegal, are a good lesson. Cause who will expose their lies, while other companies are honnest and clear? The uninformed customer may think: "I won't by this brand cause they're almost proud to announce some of their knifes are chinese, instead i will buy this brand cause it's proud to be american" while it's not american at all! The counterfeits destroy this unhonnestly acquired market. Though it's clear that customs must fight counterfeits no regard of what it is a copy of, that's their duty to enforce the law, i tend to be less pained when hypocritical brands are victims.

In fact, there's another problem if the counterfeit is of better quality than the original. Normally, free market ensure the customer the possibility to allways choose the best product for the price, and in this case, aren't laws accomplice of anti-liberal behaviours? In a country based on liberal principles, this might be a major ethic question. Must the right of a company to protect copyrighted names, models, systems prevail on the customer's right to freely choose, on the market, the best product for the price? That's a rather interesting question i haven't answer for at the present moment.

[wildjim]

Make a "great" product for a "fair" price and it will sell.

Example: The Swiss Army Knife there a many copies of the design but most will buy the original because it can be purchased for a "fair" price in comparison to the copy.