Knock-off usually refers to certain work includes copying or pilgrims, and most public’s opinions towards these fake item are negative, denying to accept inauthentic production. Despite the infamous image of knock-off, this copy behavior is constantly bringing the society various benefits on economy. Thus, public shouldn’t simply refuse to understand the value of knock-off only because the stubborn idea about fake tells people to use authentic products. Within greater and greater influence born with it, knock-off shouldn’t be prohibited too strictly and it’s time to concede the profit fake brought to us.

Closely related to daily life, knock-off productions have permeated through technology, leather goods and clothing. Started from kindergarten, the education from parents and teacher of regarding copy as an incorrect behavior has control over people’s mind, stabling the idea that knock-off is illegal and unacceptable. Not only elders’ cliché, but also real-world law cases evaluate the activity of knock-off to a legitimate issue. “Bill to Provide Protection for Fashion Design” noted that “fashion design are generally ineligible for any type of protection, so designers, especially new designers entering the field, easily become victims of those who wish to copy their designs and profits from them” in the year 2006. Additionally, five years later, in 2011, “Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act” has claimed that this law is aim to prohibit “a fashion design to have been copied.” Combining public consensus and law prohibition, people form a general and illegal image about knock-off. One of the biggest knockoff online sellers in the world, Alibaba Company in China has been confused by its sellers posting fake item in their shopping websites, attracting blame from whole unintentionally. Within the words by Lin “Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., facing U.S. criticism over the presence of counterfeit and pirated goods on its online shopping platforms” in the journal “Alibaba enlists brands to help stuff out knockoffs,” this issues also iterated how seriously selling fake item against the law.

Nevertheless, unlike the early “Bill to Provide Protection for Fashion Design” has stated so strictly to prevent copying, the key points to measure a copied work in “Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention” clarified that a fashion design is not qualified to be regarded as copy if “(1) is not substantially identical in overall visual appearance to and as to the original elements of a protected design, or (2) is the result of independent creation.” Changing the circumstance faced by knockoff, new criteria has allowed some case to become legal that was previously banned. Take the example listed in the book “Counterfeit Fashion: The Interplay Between Copyright and Trademark Law in Original Fashion Design and Designer Knockoffs,” by Tu, the way of arranging logo massively to decorate handbag devised by Louis Vuitton, which also appears similarly on the leather goods of Gucci, Coach, and Fendi. On the other hand, the famous Burberry Check is widely seen in people’s daily life. Designs have similarity to these two cases have shown how may knockoff represents itself as an independent and legal production, eliminating people’s doubt about them at the mean time. As a result, though the central idea can be deemed as knockoff, certain knock-off doesn’t violate law’s idea about copying. While spreading the popularity of original pieces and amounting their own value, consequently, these fake designs have brought various benefits to their regions and themselves, signaling the society that certain knock-off can be acceptable and profitable instead of being mere plagiarism.

The only reason people can’t have a agreement on knock-off is because of its illegal characteristic. However, all evidence I listed above have showed that knock-off shouldn’t be so strictly banned today due to its usage of attracting more profit and spreading popularity of original piece. People should change their old opinion about knock-off and start to regard this copy as a new way to develop more possibilities.

