[flyingcircus3]

Perhaps that would prevent people from selling clones as if they were authentic, but the stated problem is that clones are undercutting the original creators devices. Changing the name puts an increased burden on the cloners to get their name out there, but in a hobbyist market surrounding a technical subject, that seems pretty small compared to the burden of developing hw/fw that users are willing to pay for.

[immibis]

If you don't want people to copy and improve your software, don't give them permission to copy and improve your software.

If you don't want people to copy and improve your hardware, don't give them permission to copy and improve your hardware. It works the same as software copyright, AFAIK.

If you don't want people to make their own products that are similar to yours... sorry, that's not possible. Imagine what the world would be like if Elon Musk could claim a monopoly on Twitter-like services - if Mark Zuckerberg didn't first claim a monopoly on all social media - if IBM didn't first claim a monopoly on all computing products. You get to differentiate your product based on price and features, just like everyone else does.

[mschuster91]

> If you don't want people to copy and improve your hardware, don't give them permission to copy and improve your hardware.

As if Chinese cloners would give a shit about permissions. You got everything there from "independents" reverse-engineering clothing or circuits over the "official" manufacturing contractor running "ghost shifts" [1] with original parts that got binned in QA to supposedly trustable brands getting shafted on their end [2].

Regarding electronics, bunnie has also dedicated a chapter about fakes in his book about that world [3]. China simply runs on an entirely different value system than Western countries, one where what we see as theft they see as a completely normal part of doing business [4]. Unfortunately, our politicians never realised that and still continue treating China as an "equal partner".

Utter madness, and we are paying for it.

[1] https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/07/08/the-secret-world-o...

[2] https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2010/microsd-card-failure...

[3] https://bunniefoo.com/bunnie/essential/essential-guide-shenz...

[4] https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2014/from-gongkai-to-open...