DDR Design rip off's get a little kick in the A$$

Darrel Ralph

Darrel Ralph

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Caveat Emptor – Knock-off DDR Knives

In another case study in unethical behavior and theft, people in China and possibly elsewhere are making cheap, substandard copies of Darrel Ralph Designs Gunhammer. They have been seen on eBay and in some shops in Afghanistan.
A knock-off of DDR's Gunhammer. Be aware they're out there.

DDR says, “We’ve been trying to get these people to stop [but] they don’t care about intellectual property theft and they won’t respond to any communication. We filled out their [eBay’s] ridiculous forms and submitted them, but it was just a waste of time.”
Though the knives look and feel cheap, unless you know what to look for you might be gulled into putting money into one of these thieves’ pockets. First of all, no DDR knife is going to be sold for $10. Second, they look and feel cheaply made (they are typically much lighter than the real thing) and third, there are some cosmetic differences (including the placement of the name and initials). They know some of them are being made in China (having traced the first fakes to one ordered by a customer in Singapore) and possibly also Pakistan.
A beautiful example of a real DDR gunhammer.

DDR went on, “Unfortunately, there is not a thing we can do about it except flip them the bird. The cost of stopping them is extreme [and even then it wouldn’t be a permanent resolution]…there is no protection at all.”
DDR’s genuine work is on his website and Facebook page. Oh, and if you’re interested, DDR now has a knife blog.
-DR
Tags: DDR Knives
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 5:31 PM and is filed under Caveat Emptor, Knives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


2 Responses to “Caveat Emptor – Knock-off DDR Knives”



  • 9ffb9504539ae6ed049f0f946a96f374
    John Denny says:
    February 28, 2012 at 6:01 PM
    The other problem with fakes is they can damage the reputation of the real maker. There will always be some dumbarse who cannot figure out they’ve got a fake, and when it fails, they assume it’s the real manufacturers fault.
    I doubt there is anything that can be done to fix this problem, other than getting the word out.
    Reply
  • c803ab87a2a9a54ad53be8eb8f8ca435
    Mobious says:
    February 28, 2012 at 8:46 PM
    The real problem is that there’s a market for knockoffs, good or bad, cheap or closely priced. Too bad that someone decided to copy, but guess what, there are people who’ll gladly buy ‘em
    HEY HOO
    Capitalism bites back with it’s own medicine! Someone will sell a cheaper one of what you did cuz they can and there’s plenty of buyers who either don’t care or in the cases that are more problematic, don’t know, but in such cases of “buying cheaper” may just not see the value to pay premium price, maybe you’re overcharging? Then it fails them and they get up set at everyone… and everyone loses
    Reply



    http://soldiersystems.net/2012/02/28/caveat-emptor-knock-off-ddr-knives/
 
Goodness, that's one of the worst looking knock-offs I've ever seen.

DDR fit and finish is so good that's really hard to imagine another company pulling off convincing imitations. Especially with something as intricate as, say, ETAC texturing on a metal handle.
 
this just reminds me how much i want a gunhammer.

edit: haha they were trying to counterfeit a custom ddr? hahahaha i mean they wouldnt even have a chance with the htm gunhammers much less the FULL BLOWN CUSTOM
 
Can DDR fans just leave negative comments on anyones page who sells fake DDR knives? Bad reviews saying they are fake or something like that?
 
eyeeatingfish said:
Can DDR fans just leave negative comments on anyones page who sells fake DDR knives? Bad reviews saying they are fake or something like that?
Click to expand...
Depends where they're being sold. Unfortunately, most of this crap gets sold on eBay, where you can't leave comments/reviews on the listings themselves, nor negative feedback for the person selling the fakes unless you've actually bought the knife from them (and hence have a transaction to leave feedback for). There is the option to report the listing to eBay as counterfeit merchandise (and thus a violation of eBay policies on what can be listed/sold), but as the quote from Darrel at the beginning of the the article/post mentions, eBay doesn't seem to care about theft of designs or names/logos/trademarks. (After all, they get their commission regardless of whether the product is a counterfeit or not... :rolleyes:)

Obviously, this isn't unique to DDR -- it happens to every company with recognizable designs/names/logos. For example, over on the Strider and Emerson forums on the USN, people will often post a heads-up when there are fake Striders or Emersons on eBay so that folks can use the "report item" function mentioned above -- the idea being that if enough people report the items as fakes, it might get eBay's attention. Unfortunately, though, it rarely works: even though those posts surely result in dozens of USNers reporting a given item to eBay as a counterfeit or trademark violation, off the top of my head I can't think of a single occasion where it's led to the removal of said item. :thumbdn:
 
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