So I was poking around Kult of Athena's website looking for something to waste money on and came across something I keep wondering about: Valiant Armoury's War Sword and Hanwei's War Sword.
See here:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...+War+Sword
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...+War+Sword

If you take a look, they are pretty similar in construction and appearance. Indeed, I was told in the Let's see your kits and harnesses thread by Quinn W. that the Hanwei War Sword has been redesigned and originally had a peen block much like the Valiant Armoury offering, which makes them even more alike.

Now my questions to the board are these: Why are they so similar? Are they both based on some historical piece? Was there some sort of exchange between the two companies or something? Is this a copyright violation waiting to happen? Which came first, Hanwei or Valiant, Valiant or Hanwei?

Well, technically the Valiant came before this Hanwei iteration. But it's not that simple. That "Hanwei" item is a leftover of the old Philippine-made CAS-Iberia line which pre-dates Hanwei's involvement with CAS Iberia. That's an old Valiant item, too, not part of their recent upgrade to the lineup. I believe it that model pre-dates Sonny's ownership of Valiant. Both models have been around for at least the 10 years. Probably much more. The Valiant model was around before Hanwei had anything to do with CASI.

I suspect the old CASI was copied by old Valiant, as much of their lines were similar for many years. But I don't know that for sure.

They both look the same because they are based off (at least claimed to be) a historical example. There are some visual styling detail differences between them: the pommels, the grips and guard.

Technically they are quite different swords. The Valiant is twice the weight of the Hanwei and has a different PoB. There are also differences in blade width and blade thickness. The pommel on the Valiant is threaded, where as the Hanwei is peened.