Ferrari changed that. Back in the era of the TV show Miami Vice, kit car replicas of Ferrari's became quite the rage. Not crude copies either, but identical looking to various Ferrari models. Ferrari took a number of those replicar companies to court, and won. The courts ruled that the kit car companies could not make and market knock off kits designed to look like Ferrari's. Today, a kit car cannot look like a specific model car without the concent of the original manufacturer that the kit car company is duplicating.

The same would apply to kayaks. However, the financial means of a kayak maker to go through the court proceedings to invoke this is another matter.

> Unfortunately for designers, the design is not protected,
> just the drawings.