I never thought this to be the case. Like Eskimo has been saying, it's a type of person who falls into the buying an inspired catagory.
You either have X amount to spend on a Marino, or you have money to burn and buy an Inspired.
You can't really blame Marino for stealing sales from Inspired just because the geo is similar. The geo of the batch of frames, just like you've been saying, is what people want, not what Inspired have come up with, just for everyone to 'copy'.
Edit:
And also... I'd like to think the little peices of media Marino riders put out to promote the brand has the same effect on riders that the Inspired crew has. So its not all, just going for the cheaper option, but actually buying a Marino because they're cool