There is a saying that only two things in life are guaranteed, death and taxes. Neither of them are spelled 'legal'.
Years ago my father was foolish enough to think that because he was in the legal right the law would support him. The guy that put him into bankrupcy screwed a number of small contractors over a period of time.
Legal, moral and right are wonderful terms for discussions, but in the real world they need to be examined in context.
Many things that go on in business are colored in grey; not quite illegal, not quite ethical and only right if you are on the winning side of the deal.
Rather than wasting time on the ftc or whatever government agency, I would rather work within the system to purchase the goods I want at the price I find reasonable.
Sorry to read about the dirtbag that bankrupted your father. I worked for a boat dealership that was started by one person and when the market changed, he got a partner. After a third partner was added (a friend of the first partner but not the founder), I told the founder that he better watch his azz, or they'd squeeze him out and he was naiive enough to think they wouldn't. They did, but they also didn't know how to run a boat dealership or retail, for that matter. Joe sued and at the trial, we thought it was going in the direction of either having him returned to the company or at least being seen as the takeover having been illegal. It didn't. Personally, I think the judge was doing the defense attorney.
The guys who took over are weapons grade a-holes.
You're right- in business, many things are done until the person doing them is caught and then, they deal with the problem. However, if a direct duplicate is made by a third party and sells for less than the original, who is hurt? The manufacturer of the original- because they lost business and the customer- who may have a problem with it at some point and won't get coverage from the manufacturer. Enough Chinese knock-off amplifiers that showed M&K went bad that M&K's reputation was ruined. HiVi looks just like Dynaudio and I know you're aware of them.
Unauthorized manufacturing of someone else's design may make consumers happy when they "get a great deal" but it's still wrong. Unauthorized internet sales is a way to move a lot of goods, but it can still screw the consumer by stating that a warranty exists, even though the manufacturer explicitly states that if it's sold this way, the warranty is void.
One of the reasons a manufacturer will prohibit internet sales is to make it possible for their real dealers to make money by selling their products. When a wholesaler enters into an agreement to buy product for resale to retail dealers but also has a retail operation and sells for less than normal dealer cost, it undercuts all of the dealers who would normally be selling them. Since there's no reason to sell for less than cost, it eliminates competition, which is definitely illegal.
I'm pretty sure that if you were in the position of being a manufacturer who spent a good amount of money to develop a product that people want, you wouldn't be too hap, hap, happy when someone comes along and sold something with your label for much less, yet said it was really made by you. If this is actually happening, the people making and selling the knockoffs should be stopped, IMO. YMMV
