I was thinking of ordering a few of these knock-offs in order to decorate my bar/home theatre. Originally, I thought of trying to make them myself but holy smokes, it took me years of time, money, trial and error, to knock-off Vai's flame guitar. As purchasing them isn't illegal and I see no moral reason why I couldn't so I decided to pull the trigger on a Chinese AFD LP. Purely out of curiosity and hoping that it will at least make a good wall-hanger.
With regards to describing these items; Until they're under your possession there's no way to label the purchase per se but this is how I understand it.
Counterfeit: You purchased what you thought was the "real deal" but were deceived buy paying for one that was not authentic.
Knock-off: An imitation that generally wouldn't include any of the original logos/trademarks (i.e. gibson logo) and may have some physical differences
Replica: Close or exact copy of the original product.
Legal Replica: Non-functioning exact copy of the original product.
Prop Replica: Legal non-functioning exact copy of the original product used in movie/theatre productions etc.
Reproduction: Most often refers to the re-creation of an original that is usually licensed/approved by the owner(s) which can be sometimes limited in quantities.
I know its illegal to sell counterfeit goods but is it illegal to make a copy/replica for your own use? I'm guessing not but could never find any info on it...
Here's a pic of my flame knock-off with different headstock and 4 scalloped frets. I prefer a pointy headstock with this style body. The original one that performance used was actually a black Gibson Explorer style.
Anyway, if I could have bought this style guitar from China, I probably would have!