It may surprise you to learn that the way I described advertising signage and graphics was not something I made up. It's a paraphrase of a definition I have to be aware of in the course of business - concerning the permissibility of different types of signs (a matter of zoning).

Thank you for your helpful participation in the discussion. Meanwhile, Biemme have responded in an apologetic way to say that the stuff I might get from the Hong Kong vendor isn't as good as what they made and they "do not have permission." Naturally, right? That's good enough for me. Not because that makes the stuff pirated, but because I'd rather do business with the friendly folks at Biemme.

Call it rationalization if you will, but it's much nicer making the decision on such a basis. If they'd been jerks and gotten all lawyer-y in reply, I'd have been tempted to get the HK goods anyhow just to spite them and dare them to do something about it.