I’m having trouble with this from an ethical point of view.
It would appear that a great many vapers are totally ok with a company copying a great RTA, RDA, or other pieces of gear, likely selling them cheaper than the original. The engineering, design and manufacture of the original took a lot to develope, and the knock-off just copies that awesome design and goes to market with it.
How is this ok??
This may just be my ignorance and being new to advanced gear and the way the world works, but it just seems highly unethical. Are there two camps here? One side ok with it and one side against, but they just leave it as the elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss?
Eh, I bought a clone Kayfun v5 not because I didn’t want an original but because I did my research and found that the Clone was as good as the original and “cheaper”…
I also own a Goon clone that was purchased for me, It is a great RDA.
I think as long as you do your research and understand the pros/cons of a Clone you should be fine, it is no way disrespecting the original but trying to find something with a lower cost.
Everything I understand as business ethics tells me otherwise. Stealing someone else’s great design and undercutting them in the market with a cheaper version just feels dirty, possibly illegal. But it seems like the folks who are ok with it don’t see that at all. Like it’s not even about that. It’s about buying a cheaper piece of gear that is at least as good as the original, which took a lot of time and effort to create and bring to market. The imagination it took, etc…I don’t see how anyone can be ok with that.
I understand this is a commonly accepted practice and I’m not coming down on anyone who buys clones. I’m just venting how baffled I am that it became ok.
It’s simply the way it is. You have to make a personal decision regarding purchasing a clone or no. I have worked with companies who pulled patents and others who did not because they believed it would be harder to copy if their documentation was not on file. In all cases the it was limited insurance. If you are a company in the business of making something you need to know going into it that other companies may try to copy all or part of your product. Just the way it is.
Just to elaborate, I worked with one company who filed many, many, patents that they never anticipated putting into production just to try to collect royalties if another company used the idea. It’s an amazing world out there, lol.
Huh?? You’re telling me that because I have no vested interest in the manufacture, sales and design of the gear we use I can’t see an unethical trend in the market and call it what it is? I can’t express my being baffled by it because I didn’t design one that was coppied? I don’t understand…
You really think that much r&d still goes into an RDA today? Cause some companies still charge top dollar for things with little or no innovation.
At the end of the day I just look at my wallet. That being said I don’t buy or want every piece of equipment out there, so not many originals or clones being bought here.
I’m glad you brought this up, because I’ve been wondering the same thing. I believe a majority of vaping hardware is made in china, and the clones are also made in china. So legality isn’t an issue at all. But my experience has shown me that buying the name brand is almost always better than the knockoff.
The original manufacturers are constantly “stealing” ideas and designs from each others anyway, which is why we have de-facto standards like velocity style decks, goon size drip tips, kennedy style airflow etc. The clone manufacturers just go one step further and steals the whole design, instead of individual design elements.
Where I personally feel they go too far, is when they also steal the logo. Here they leave the reign of clones and venture into the area of forgery. I wish they would just put there own logos on the products, which would also make it easier to predict the quality of the clone, as you would know who the manufacturer is.
Here’s my take. If a company wants to spend the time and money to get a Patent and Trademark on a product I wouldn’t buy a clone of that product. Without a Patent and Trademark it is fair game.
Personally, I utilize both authentic and clones. All of my tanks/RTA’s are authentic and most of my RDA’s are clones. With the exception of my favorite RTA (reload RTA), I own the authentic ($75) and the clone ($15). I use the clone to bring to work, and the authentic is for every other waking moment. Now, I understand the issue one might have with the moral issue at hand. But, at the end of the day there isn’t anything that will change it. That being said, I embrace both sides of the fence and do the proper research when I’m interested in a clone. The reload RTA is nothing short of amazing and other than the quality of the grub screws, o-rings and gold plating on the deck, the clone functions EXACTLY the same. Phenomenal RTA so if you’ve been on the fence, at least try the clone. Fasttech and 3fvape both carry them.
Isn’t it like with pirate copies of software, films and music? Without my first tapes copied from friend’s albums, the MS Windows copy, the downloaded film people wouldn’t go out and buy their own albums. Or in the case of MS Windows, who would have gotten a copy of Windows if it wouldn’t have been pre-installed or if you couldn’t get a copy for your first PC. This is how MS built an empire.
I see it this way: imitation is flattery, If i see a cool vape device somewhere i don’t see “goon copy” or “whatever imitation” I see goon or Aspire or whatever. Some people will always go for the cheap stuff, others want originals.
If some people couldn’t get a copy of a device they wouldn’t go for the original anyway and seek a cheap alternative as much as not many people would buy a film if they couldn’t get it for free on the internet. Especially with films, I buy a DVD of a great film i already know. Buying a “new great film” or “the new album of a super duper band” got me disappointed too many times.
