robgmn,
By your reasoning, it would be fine to assume the name and trade mark of one of the knife makers here on BF. Put out cheap poorly made knives . See how long you would remain a member.
You would have committed harm to the original maker by presenting his work as poor and sub optimal and by depriving him of his income and harmed the buyer through duplicity.
"the people who get hurt by counterfeit high-end goods are the ones who get duped into thinking they are real and paying high prices for them"
By your reasoning someone would be ok to assume your name and user name on BF and make egregious comments about yourself. No one would be hurt but you. It would be up to those who know you to defend your good name. But the doubt and damage has already been committed.
I have no idea how this correlates to what we're talking about. What company is putting out fakes and pretending to BE another company in order to devalue the original? Devaluing the real-deal will only result in fewer fakes being sold. Who would buy a fake of something that no one cares about? Ever see any fake WalMart sneakers out there? This is not a case of non-genuine destabilization, it's a case of infringement for monetary gain.
According to your though process it's ok to deceive someone to make money and it's ok to dupe someone or attempt to do so.
What happens when the fake knife is misplaced or lost or even seen without being declared a fake? Someone picks it up looks at the quality and decides never to bother looking into a CRK or the original brand knife at all.
"Not supporting counterfeiters" was the first line in my post. As for "picking up a knife and thinking it's crap"- think about the logic behind that. The rarity of finding a lost knife, combined with the odds that the person would even know the logo or what the knife is PRETENDING to be, is so slim as to be a non-consideration. If the person DID see the knife in a shop and it was $400, but their "find" was crap, don't you think they'd ask questions? If you found a Polex watch and thought "junk", then saw one in the store for $9,000.00 would you wonder how they can sell junk for $9K? If not, then due diligence ain't a skill set you have.
I suggest that you start making knifes and selling them here to make a living and then evaluate your thought process. I bet it changes very quickly.
If I started making $600 knives and selling them here, I doubt very highly that the Chinese counterfeiters would be interested. Now, if my sales here were big, my name was well-known, and I represented at trade shows worldwide, it wouldn't surprise me if they DID copy my stuff. I wouldn't delude myself into thinking I lost money because of it, however. Anyone who would buy a $35 copy of my $500 knife is not someone who would buy my $500 knife anyway. I have not lost a sale. If I had a $50 knife however, then I'd be worried about the $35 copy. Or, if someone could produce an exact copy of my $600 knife for $100 (like DVD duplication), I'd be worried.
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