There is the ethical desire of a lot of us not to buy look-alikes because it violates a sense of owning only an original.
On the other hand, the history of knifemaking by mass producers of all grades is to copy any good design and adopt it as their own. Slipjoints, hunting knives, Buck 110 lockbacks, about anything made up to the last 15 years or so has been a copy. So, the argument has been not so much ignored as laughed at by the major makers for hundreds of years. Completely new designs are few and far between. Even major innovators sell the designs for others to copy.
The real ripoff isn't the knife, it's the owner who buys the cheap version and poses as an authentic owner to others. Look-alikes are almost always a lesser grade of steel, have fit and finish issues, or use a poorly rendered and often badly understood lock mechanism that fails. That's a given for a cheap knife. But the slavishly copied looks are what the owner hopes is noticed, as if they have actually ponied up the money to buy the real thing. They cheat themselves, and when it's discovered, they are characterized by it. Bragging doesn't help.
I will neither confirm or deny having bought copies - but I can say every one has been a waste of money and my time, even the authorized ones, especially when I can compare them side by side. The real value is in the execution of details and superior materials. The looks are just bling.
