As the importer and contractor of the manufacturing, Sparkfun is the responsible party. First, the manufacturer just uses whatever colors/marking/customization that Sparkfun requests (note the Sparkfun logo on the meter). Second, trademarks are de facto irrelevant in China.
I personally don't think this meter directly competes with Fluke - Sparkfun has lots of great things, but test equipment is not among them. But we can agree to disagree about this, and my point stands irrespective of it - Companies, despite being legally compelled to churn on anything remotely related to their trademark, can choose to protect their marks from erosion in amicable ways. Thus, companies can and should be judged for the actions they do take.
The reason I called the original statement an 'aphorism' is because it's indeed true in a sense, but its simplicity hides the entirety of the situation. It's part of a larger trend of people abdicating individual reason and responsibility, and passing the decision making to a nebulous non-entity ("everyone else is doing it.."). If a professional job is performed this way, then the value-add of a person is merely a human face, and they should be replaced with a short shell script. Then the actual professional human up the chain can better exercise their own judgment.