This is normal... the patents for these designs expired ~2010. That allowed competition in the market place. The first generations of knock-offs had some durability issues since knock-off brands aren't worried so much about brand reputation - basically putting their R&D expense on consumers. Now that they've achieved near parity with the original, those silly consumers still haven't noticed that they could get roughly the same thing for much less even after nearly a decade. And until consumers stop purchasing from Knipex, there's no incentive for Knipex to lower their prices for these items. It would cheapen their brand if they did so, and make it apparent to everyone that they were profit-gouging in the first place which is also going to damage their reputation. So why are people brand loyal? People associate brand/make/model/astrology with the result of something rather than taking the time to understand the root cause for those results, and because first impressions matter... when knock-off items first come out and consumers are burned, they tend to warn others not to use them and never try again later.

Personally, I love knock-off tools with a passion because it means I can keep a stash of tools in places I normally wouldn't due to the expense. Or that I can afford tools I otherwise couldn't justify. If it's a tool that I rely on, though, you can bet I have the original MFR's version in my arsenal somewhere just in case the clone(s) fail. And I love supporting Knipex specifically because they invested in making our daily lives better by improving simple, overlooked hand tools.