there's a far cry from inspiration to "put it in a mold and crank them out"
cold steel has some fine knives of their own design. i'm sure they might get miffed if someone copies it.
and like some companies, they come super close to down right cloning other patterns
well, good thing you can't copyright/etc a pattern
right? oh. weight. some people think they can protect where you put a hole on a knife
but they have a knife that's so close to another, that it's a direct copy - no innovation or inspiration required. no names, because i know one of the people invovled is a true gentleman.
others? well, it's okay apaprently. even if you're called on it.
mmm, okay, sure. unique knife design, last 30 years, ..., mmm. grohmann #1? WSK? Nessmuk? CRKT MUK?
arguments like "oh, it's got a HANDLE" will be ignored, or "it's just like foo except for the ..."
frankly, there are so many variables possible, that even if something does happen to be close to something else, chances are their pedigrees could be light years apart.
sure, there might be say, a dozen, or even half a dozen basic over all possiblities. point up, point inline, point offline, point down, curve, recurve, flat, fixed, folder, and some others... but it the combinations, and variations... infinite possibilities. what with all those chances... coming up with something 99% the same? yah, that's just plagiarism, and what did we learn in 2nd grade class? plagiarists will get Fs :> thank you class.