In most industries, the kind of direct copying perpetrated by Chinese manufacturers would trigger a lawsuit, but the original patents for ribbon mics have long since expired, and the technology hasn't changed radically since the old days. As a result, the basic design of ribbon mics, from the guts of the ribbon assembly to the glossy chrome of the exterior, is something akin to collective property.

Present-day builders can emulate the tried-and-true mics of the past, often copying a single element, such as