[Alupis]

It's an interesting notion to "counterfeit" a chip... I mean, the supposed counterfeit still has to perform the same duties as the "legit" chip does... maybe of less quality, stability or longevity... but nonetheless, it does the same job. It's like saying Hyundai is counterfeit cars because their quality is less than Honda or something.

[jpindar]

Not at all. There are plenty of counterfeits that are not functional - some don't even have a die in them.

Also, these parts have a brand logo on them, but are not made by that manufacturer. If Hyundai sold cars with the word Honda and a Honda logo on them, without permission from Honda, they would indeed be counterfeits.

[sitkack]

Counterfeit items may also have higher quality than the thing they are pretending to be. Pretending something it is not w/o permission.

[DigitalJack]

counterfeits may not have the same tolerance specs, may not perform any special features (i.e. the shutdown control in over voltage conditions), may have spying functions (counterfeit cpu for example).