What makes you think they’re knock-offs? I don’t think you understand how large international manufacturing businesses work.

It is likely that a single company in China, perhaps using it’s own design, manufactures “Arc”-style lighters. They then supply these lighters, perhaps under what was originally an exclusive agreement, to retailers. The retailers put their own name on the lighter and sell them under their brand.

I don’t think the Arc-look-alikes are knockoffs. I think they are the same lighters sold by the UK company that calls their lighters the “Arc Turboflame”.

It’s really not any different from many businesses now – for example, there are only a few companies in the world that manufacture LCD TV screens. These companies supply nearly every TV manufacturer with screens, and each retailer takes the screens and slaps their own brand label on them.

Another example is the “American Weigh Gemini-20” milligram scale. They are identical to scales available directly from suppliers in China. The only difference is that American Weigh probably sorts through scales, tests them, and rejects those that don’t meet their specifications. They also offer a lifetime warranty. But the Chinese scales aren’t knockoffs of American Weigh scales. Rather, the American Weigh scales are Chinese scales with the “American Weigh” brand on them.