Chinese optics companies are making so-called replicas and clones of popular brand scopes and other optics.

These items are cheaply made knock-offs of the originals and they are not identified as replicas, but are marked and branded just like the real items they imitate.

At a glance, this wouldn't seem to be a problem, as long as the auction is clearly denoted as "replica" or "clone", but here is a problem.

Leupold and other name brand companies have been fighting these practices for some time for a number of reasons.

One reason is that once these cheap copies make their way into the marketplace, they can lose their identity, and unknowing or unscrupulous sellers can list them as the real things. Unknowing buyers may wind up paying for what they believe to be a top quality item, only to find out that it is a cheap Chinese copy.

Furthermore, Leupold and several other compnies are in current legal battles with the Chinese companies in an effort to make them stop making the copies altogether.

In addition to the risk of someone getting burned on a resale, the manufaturers are concerned that the poorly made optics will have tremendous negative effects on their reputations for quality products and service.

These copies are not legal and they should neither be listed nor purchased by anyone. The circumstances are identical to those under which fake handbags, shoes, watches, and other "clones" are prohibited.

In March of 2006, Leupold testified to the US Senate regarding the problem of the Chinese counterfeit items.

A PDF copy of the testimony can be read on the web.

Search for "official testimony leupold" using Google or similar search engines.

Update: Apparently, Ebay has applied some long overdue pressure on these sellers, and now there appear to be very few replicas or clones listed.

The knock-offs are still there, but no reference is made to Leupold or other quality brand names.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the fakes, but it looks like they're slowing going away.