I also am for cloning. Absolutely. The more choices, the better.
I'm puzzled by all this design copying stuff. It's happened in the guitar world for ages. There were Japanese copies of some guitars that were so good, that the original manufacturer sued the cloners because they (the original mfg.) couldn't make a guitar as good as their competition. The point I'm making is that there are only so many ways a guitar/gun/knife/insert your fetish here, can look.
One notable guitar maker, Gibson, sued a little manufacturer (Paul Reed Smith-PRS), for copying their design. It was pathetic, Gibson claiming that this ONE manufacturer, PRS, was cloning their products. No self respecting Gibson owner would confuse a Gibson for a PRS, and millions of guitars that looked like their precious Les Paul already exist, but they picked on PRS, because it's a great product. Gibson won originally but lost in the end. I will never buy another new Gibson as a result of this fiasco. I lost all respect for them and they lost a customer in me. Tsk. Tsk...
Steve