It doesn't matter whether it deliberately attempts to pass itself off as the genuine article (i.e. a counterfeit item) or attempts to capitalize on the name brand by making the article visually almost identical (e.g. Sharpie vs Shoupie pens - a knockoff).
A sobering fact is that about $653 billion worldwide is lost from counterfeit goods[1]. The FBI takes this position[2]:
> legitimate businesses lose billions of dollars in revenue and suffer damaged reputations, consumer prices go up, the U.S. and global economies are robbed of jobs and tax revenue, product safety is reduced, and sometimes lives are even put at risk.
As much as I am not a fan in particular of the FBI, I agree with this statement. In fact, the USA is hit the hardest by far, losing $225 billion annually to counterfeiting[3].
Bottom line: a person or company should be able to profit from their ideas, research and development, productization, licensing and marketing, without having these things stolen by others and used to make money off their sweat.
[1]: http://www.havocscope.com/category/counterfeit-goods/
[2]: https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime/piracy-ip...
[3]: http://www.havocscope.com/losses-to-counterfeit-goods-by-cou...