Clone Knives from a more expensive famous knife design: Is it fraud, a Knock-Off or just a cheaper knife?

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VorpelSword

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Recently, I bought a Cris Reeve Sebenza from a CRK dealer. It will qarrive on Monday. Before buying I did some shopping around inclding Amazon and e-Bay. The-Bay, as expectyed has offerings in the several versions and various steels both brand new and pre-owned at price points that varied rom ~$250 and on up to the full retaile and more for a few. Then I noticed one for under $100!. then another and another. Looking closley and reading csrefully i came to know that these were Chinese copies being marketed in the description as CRK knives. One otr two said "style", but most did not.

Now, I know that Cold Steel does a nice copy of the iconic Randall #1, but they never reference Randall. I might feel less disgusted with the Chinese CRK knock-offs if they were just offered as what they ar; a decent looking titanium frame lock with a D2 blade. I guess the potential deception is what really bothers me.
 
Branding the product correctly and not trying to pass it off as an original is a big part of it, another is the type of knife. Randall is veering into traditional territory, where history and homage play into things more. Tony Bose is generally considered to be the greatest knifemaker / designer in the traditional sphere, and most of what he did was replicate historical designs with his own spin on it. Many of the originals in the traditional realm are no longer being made or were made by companies that don't even exist anymore. In the case of something like Cold Steel making a homage to the Loveless subhilt, the original was $20k at the minimum so it's hard to argue that they're stealing sales.
 
Buy once, cry once. The feeling you get walking around with a fake has its own cost. I have a fake Benchmade trainer and that thing exudes substandard build quality. Also bought a fake (unknown to me) UTX70 off the exchange- same problem. I learned my lesson.
 
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I will buy a clone or have one made and grind down the edge to be used in the training of edged weapons.. My originals are kept for real world use
 
This is something everyone has to decide on their own. I've always looked at it like this -

Fake markings, etc......? - That's just wrong no matter how you slice it.

Copies of dead designs? I'm fine with this. Many times a company will let a design fade away with no plans of bringing it back. If some other does, I'm ok with that. It's not really hurting anyone, and it gives people that want one a second crack at it without having to pay collectors prices, etc.....

The stickiest one to me are the copies / homages of old, but currently produced knives that for whatever reason - price, steel choice, etc..... you won't buy an original of. I always find myself debating what's the right choice on that one. At what point does a design enter public domain, so to speak.
 
I make a huge distinction between a counterfeit and a honestly branded copy / derivative .

A true counterfeit is falsely labeled as to the brand and everything else ; has no accountability or motivation to be a quality product . It is a lie from the start .

A copy that is honestly branded and described , may or may not be of good quality , but at least you know who is responsible !

Not everything copied is done so illegally .
 
Seems to be increasing difficult to buy online because of deceptive advertising…even with a thorough reading.
 
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Fraud. The only ones who could do this and be legitimate were the old factories that produced what we now call traditional knives. That is simply due to crossover manufacturing and contracting.. the quality remained the same. Nowadays it is just a cheap clone.
 
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