PJH wrote:
The original question was "Do you consider Tokai guitar counterfeit"
The definition in the dictionary is: "made in imitation so as to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine".
Tokai puts their own name on the headstock.
Therefore the answer is No, they do not make counterfeit guitars.
They make copies or maybe "replicas" (a name that I prefer).
Case closed.
Case very much open, I'm afraid.
The definition in your (or any) dictionary is irrelevant. If this is a legal issue being raised in SA than it's the definition under South African law that counts. And I don't—like, it would appear from the comments, everybody else—have a sufficiently in-depth knowledge of that to answer the original question.
I certainly consider many Tokai guitars to be shameless rip-offs, even though they can also be very,
very good musical instruments. Whether that is legally right or wrong
in this jurisdiction, is another matter entirely.
"Analogous" examples from other jurisdictions are, frankly, unhelpful, as is the repeated stating that they were not the first and a very far from being the only shameless rip-offs on the market. As are comments seeming to suggest that the high quality of the instruments somehow diminishes the rip-off aspect.
I do know that South Africa has been beefing up its anti-counterfeiting laws, since the country is a major dumping-ground for counterfeit goods, and it could be that Gibson (or its representatives) has spotted a crack that could trip Tokai (or its representatives) up. If that's the case and if the Gibson side is correct, then Tokai guitars are—in South Africa—counterfeits; if not, then they are not. That's how the law works. Whether any of us "consider" them to be counterfeits is pretty much irrelevant...
