simple quality
I still disagree with Olive about the technicalities of legal issues (trade dress etc) and the broader sweep of the moral issues.
But the most universal and practical matter is simply quality. Every knock-off I have seen is made from cheap ash wood. The joinery is shoddy and filled with lots of wood paste. Overall the dimensions may be similar, but closer inspection shows that the slats are thinner, and shallower. All of these things add up to a product that is less robust and lasting than the rock-maple, precision cut Herman Miller version. There's a reason why HM is willing to provide lots of up-close photos and the knock-off sites invariably have a distance shot.
I have seen HM versions that are 50+ years old. The question you have to ask yourself is whether the lifespan of the original piece justifies paying more than the copy. In my opinion it's a no brainer.
I guess I'll never get it.
Trade dress doesn't apply to designs in the public domain. A design with an expired patent is one that anyone can reproduce. The claim of trade dress on such a patent is spurious and a blatant attempt to justify over pricing. Buying for quality I get but, to give your money to a company who claims it owns an expired patent through legal mumbo-jumbo, ...that I don't get and probably never will. Koen and I have typed our fingers off on this subject for so long that I guess I should just give up. If he can't make the point understood I certainly never will.
But, yet again, all that said...I will happily spend my money for quality and I usually do, which is why I own a 'real' Nelson Bench.
Olive...
MOST of the designs that are 'out of copyright' are not still being made by the company that once had the exclusive rights. The Nelson Bench is, apparently, an exception.
Most of the 'out of copyright' items are being made without the original high quality and you don't have alot of options.
Some items, like the Josef Hoffman Kubus sofas and chairs continue to be made 'exclusively" by Whittmann in Austria, but Whittmann furniture is EXTREMELY expensive and basically not being distributed here in the US.....so if anyone wants a Kubus sofa or chair, the knockoffs are about the only option.
The Cassina La Courbusier stuff is a bit different; you can buy Cassina pieces here, but they're expensive and Cassina either isn't able to stop the knockoffs or doesn't care to.
As I've said before, as a rule, I do not buy knockoffs, BUT I gladly would buy knockoffs if those crazy Chinese companies would make something that's highly desireable and have not been made legally for years and years (for example, say, one of the rare Nelson clocks that have been totally out of production for 40 years....)
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