almost everything is a knock off if you go back far enough or stretch the point far enough... the house you live in, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the computer you surf the internet with, the tv you watch, the radio you listen to etc etc - but these things are so ubiquitous and necessary to a greater or lesser extent - so again totally different category, both, sort of, fast moving consumer goods - or at least not niche - with much much bigger markets & are much more 'generic'
That was the point I was trying to make. Ripoffs are everywhere, so it's curious why this particular example gets so much attention. In the Four Play topic FATSO asked whether we look at a Behringer module and think "hey, that looks like a so-and-so!". The answer for me is yes--their modules are often quite clearly copies of others. But that's not special or unique; I see kind of thing everywhere. A Harbor Freight Icon ratchet is a much closer knockoff of a Snap-On than a Behringer Abacus is a knockoff of a Maths, they even went so far as to copy the visual styling, not just the workings inside. Snap-On may not be a mom-and-pop operation, but there are far larger companies copying them, they sell a fraction of the volume that big box store brands do. The aforementioned Harbor Freight Icon brand is an example of just one of countless Behringers in the tool world knocking off the Make Noises. I could list many, many, more but these posts are getting long enough as it is. And on it goes for nearly everything: Shoes. Food. Apps/games. Household appliances. Electronics. Toys. There's loads of music gear which is made in questionable overseas factories based on someone else's earlier design from guitars to keyboard stands. So it makes me wonder if this standard is applied to everything, or if it's only modules that get this kind of scrutiny? Jim wrote that examples like tools or household goods are a "totally different category", but I am not sure I agree. Going back to the beginning of the post:
but what I'm usually saying is this - it's up to you - but really do you want to give your money to known bigots? do you actually want to put your money towards innovation or towards corporate greed?
I can absolutely get behind that principle, but why shouldn't it apply beyond Modules? Why does the size of the market matter here? There's nothing specific to music or modular or niche markets about that principle; it is universal. If we should avoid giving our money to corporations peddling inferior modules based on copying someone else's ideas shouldn't we be doing the same when we buy, say, socks or a bookshelf? If we admit that we must, sometimes, stray from those ideals out of financial reality why can that not apply to Modules too? If we aspire to that principle yet we sometimes shop at Amazon, Ikea, or Wal-Mart then can we really look down on someone who sometimes purchases Behringer modules?
That said, I don't to come across as complaining--I appreciate being able to read all the information about a module or modular company, this kind of thing included. I already wanted to avoid Behringer because of the quality issues I previously experienced and discussed in the other topic. Learning they are corporate assholes on top of that was good to know and further cements my position to avoid purchasing from them. But I am lucky enough that I can afford to purchase other modules, and not everybody is in that position. I can also afford to be picky about the tools I own--but there was a time, much earlier in my career, when all I could afford was knockoffs. I don't think music is any different. Think about how many musicians got their start playing cheapo catalog-grade or low-end foreign imported guitars, horns, amps, drum kits, etc, made with rubbish materials and shoddy workmanship but designed to look just like the big names. The companies behind those instruments didn't give a crap about traditional lutherie methods, the future serviceability of their products, or the intellectual property of those whose designs they ripped off. The half-broke teenagers who bought them probably didn't care about that either, they were just happy to get an instrument to play, and that's what set them on the path to become guitar gods later in life.