I think too many of you are focusing too narrowly.

Let me draw an analogy from one of my friends that leases commercial space, like in shopping centers and such.

If a tenant, Jane, writes a lease with a landlord that gives the tenant the exclusive right to be the ONLY resturant that serves breakfast and the tenant gets wind of a rumor that the landlord is about to sign a lease with a say a McDonalds , Subway or Dunkin Donuts you can be sure that the tenant is within their rights to inform the landlord of violation of the lease agreement. Now maybe the landlord really does not care that Jane's House of Pancakes is going to court and the judge will award Jane damages becuase the landlord is going to make so much money from the new tenant that it just won't matter, or maybe the landlord will be a "good guy" and use some of the loot from the new tenant's lease to pay Jane to go away. Of course China ain't like a local mall in heartland of America but Jane is sorta like "Outlaw" and "Bad Guy NA based bricks and mortar competitor" is a whole lot like some rich franchise run place in terms of the view of the "landlord" or Chinese contract manufacturer AND let's not forget that Jane does not have to serve a fried egg on an English muffin with Canadian Bacon and American Cheese to "compete" with the Big Bad fast food giant -- Jane's delicious flap jacks are close enough that the fast food giant really is happier with Jane pulling up stakes and if that means she is out of business for 6 months or forever either way it is a good thing as far as the franchise selling more breakfast items...

Maybe it is D+M, protecting the "flank" of either some Denon or Marantz seperate, or even McIntosh. Maybe it is Gibson doing something similar with Onkyo / Integra. Maybe it is NAD. Maybe it is Anthem. Maybe it Harmon or somebody with even a more esoteric mix of offerings. Does it really matter??? We ain't getting any flapjacks for a while and that is bad news!