Chevrofreak, as far as Peak being clones of Arcs, maybe they are, but wasn't there some back story about one of the designers having the rights to the design of the AAA? I might very well be mistaken about that, but even if not, Peak isn't trying to sell their lights at a greatly reduced price, undercutting Arc. Besides, Peak makes numerous types of lights, made of different metals to give them a distinctive look, not just a 1AAA cell light that looks like an Arc AAA. If people are seeing Peak lights and are thinking they are Arcs, then there needs to be some clearcut way to differentiate the two in my opinion.
I don't consider CMG/Gerber clones because they look totally different. True, they may be very similar on the inside, but if you see one, you won't say, "Hey, that's an Arc, isn't it?" No they have their own look, unlike the foreign ones, whose makers are trying to make you think you are buying an Arc product, instead of the imposter that it is.
Now I'm far from an expert in legal matters, but I'd assume it'd be a lot harder to get a Chinese manufacturer to stop selling these rip-offs than to get another domestic manufacturer to stop. I assume Peter already has some sort of agreement, contract, understanding, or whatever with Peak for them making lights that look so much like Arc AAA's, but that's another matter altogether.
These Chinese manufacturers are just leeches when they copy a design and overall look of a light. And I agree they are most likely junk compared to a genuine Arc AAA. But if someone bought one of these clones, not knowing it's a clone and not a genuine Arc AAA, and it failed or disappointed them in some way, do you think that person would ever buy an actual Arc? No way. So in a case like that, buying a clone would hurt Arc 2 ways. First, the initial sale was not an actual Arc, (1 lost sale) and any future sales of an Arc (2 lost sales or more) to that person would not happen.
Like I said before, I understand the need for inexpensive alternatives to the popular lights found here on CPF, just not when they are rip-offs of the genuine article. Of course most CPF'rs would be able to tell the difference. Most people who buy them on ebay wouldn't. Supporting the copy-cat manufacturers only encourages them to keep on ripping off other's original designs/ideas.