This Online Group Roasts Shameless Rip Offs Of Famous Brands, Here Are 45 Of The Worst Offenders (New Pics)

Look, I’m all for saving money. I don’t have an unlimited shopping budget either, and we all know how hard inflation has hit this year. But sometimes, brands are famous for a reason. The quality of their products might be unlike any other, and the saying “you get what you pay for” exists for a reason. I’m not encouraging you to spend exorbitant amounts of money on luxury brands or blow your rent money on something that you could have easily found at a lower price. But I also think it’s fair for these blatant knock-offs to be roasted online.

And clearly, I’m not the only one who feels this way, as the [Terrible] Off Brands subreddit has nearly 1 million members. There aren’t a lot of rules for the community, but the most important is that the photos shared must feature “an imitation of an existing name brand product or at least be within the concept of it”. And as it turns out, there are plenty of these imitations out there. But these products exist for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they come about through grocery stores trying to offer a cheaper option that they can still gain profits from, while other times counterfeit product creators try to piggy-back on the success of big brands. This list has it all, so strap in and enjoy this rollercoaster of knock-off products.   

To learn more about the legality of this topic, we reached out to Patent Attorney Jacob E. Pittman. First, we wanted to know if it's even legal for businesses to make knock-offs of famous brands or products. "This is a surprisingly complicated question, in that it requires determining which, if any, of the 4 different (but overlapping) categories of intellectual property protections may be involved: (1) patents, (2) copyrights, (3) trademarks, or (4) trade secrets," Jacob told Bored Panda.

"In many cases of a 'blatant knock-off,' the most apparent or 'visible' category involves a sub-category of trademarks, called 'trade dress,' which covers the overall 'look and feel' of a product," he explained. "That is, a company can sue for infringement, and assert that the knock-off is intentionally mimicking one of their products."

When it comes to the ramifications of selling knock-off products, Jacob says, "In general, a successful infringement suit will award monetary damages to the plaintiff. Determining how much to award is another surprisingly complicated issue, but it often relates to the amount of 'lost' profits that the infringer gained through deception."

We were also curious if companies typically pursue issues like this in court or if they might just let it slide. "It is immensely important for large companies to actively protect their intellectual property," Jacob told Bored Panda. "Through a doctrine known as 'genericism' or 'genericide,' some courts have determined that failing to actively assert your intellectual property rights is akin to not wanting them, and held that those rights have effectively 'lapsed'."

"Companies can and should aggressively pursue any instance that they become aware of, at the very least by sending a cease and desist letter, and then escalating further if necessary," Jacob explained.