Oh, of course, which is why we came out swinging on day one of NAMM, curbing enthusiasm of a sort—not because we were worried about cannibalization of Helix/HX, but because we didn't want people expecting a budget Helix. (Well, it still kinda is from a certain perspective, but there's a lot of nuance here.) Even if people bought it without any research, at least our consciences are clear and we could point to our own marketing, NAMM videos, interviews, etc. where we were very transparent about what POD Go was and wasn't.
It can get pretty slippery. On one extreme, your grandma might have a Yamaha digital piano containing multisamples of a Yamaha grand. Right next to it might be your other grandma's Casio digital piano containing multisamples of a Yamaha grand.
Ha I definitely wasn't pointing fingers at all - I'm firmly on the side of modelling companies, and I think its great that these classic pieces of gear and circuits get preserved in a digital form. I think over time the older HW companies are realising that licensing their name and likeness boosts their own brand and HW sales, so its more in their interest to get on side than open lawuits. I own several clone pedals (both sold by companies and built from kits), and also a Behringer synth thats a clone of a long out of production unit. I think they are largely able to co-exist - the market for the real deal is always going to be smaller, and buying a clone won't really satisfy someone who's after the real deal. It hasn't affected the value of original Klon's or Plexi's, and if anything its just added to the desirability. That said, if Behringer upped the price a bit and paid a royalty to the original companies, I'd feel much better about most of the products they sell (even if they're essentially the only company with the means to manufacture things to the scale that they do).
Don't quote me because I'm not sure at all, but I don't think these are clones as much as generic OEM pedals that everyone (including Mooer) slaps their name on. There have to be a dozen variations of the above pedal on Amazon alone (and more on Alibaba) and they're all identical except for the color and silkscreen.
Sure. And it's been Mooer to directly copy EHX' software/firmware for some pedals:
In other words, those guys not only live in the shady, grey waters of bordering copyright infringements, no, they're outright thieves. And with the EHX "event" they have cleary (not just legally but morally as well) crossed a line you should really rather not cross.
My personal outcome of this is that I'm trying not to buy any Mooer stuff again. I own 3 of their pedals that I dig and regularly use (and I won't stop using them because that'd make little sense), but I try my best to not buy from them again.
Given I'm pretty much a cheapskater (out of necessity, as a live musician you're not getting along too great these days anymore, too late to look for another profession...) I can't avoid buying some chinese or otherwise far eastern products of rather unknown origin, but whenever things are as clear as above, that gets a strike.
