When brand-conscious meets wallet-poor, sales of ripped-off products happen.

We've all heard of them: the fakes that are so bad they make your eyes hurt.

But for some, who want to wear or use their favourite brand somehow, they're still good enough.

What the proliferators of these fake products are doing is something called trademark infringement, wherein they are using a trademark that is identical or confusingly similar to an already existing trademark.

According to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, "A trade mark can be letters, words, names, signatures, numerals, devices, brands, labels, tickets, shapes, colours, aspects of packaging or any combination of these. For a trade mark to be registered, it must be distinctive and capable of distinguishing the goods and/or services of the owner from similar goods and/or services of other traders."

Take a look at some of the blatant - and often terribly poor - imitations of well-known brands below.

Click on thumbnail to view

Not even Ikea can escape being copied. Last year, a Chinese store made the news for blatantly copying distinctive elements of the Swedish furniture giant's stores. (Read story: Chinese retailers hijack the Ikea experience)

China's knock-off Ikea store Click on thumbnail to view