Similar rationalisations crop up frequently in debates about illegally downloading music (for example "musicians and labels make heaps of money anyway, it won't matter if I steal one album" being similar to "people still buy the real stuff, and as long as others know they're buying fakes, it's ok"), but they're (IMO) narrow-minded points of view that fail to consider the real situation in full, and it's not necessarily about money.

I consider myself an artist in what I do, essentially because I design and make my own items. My designs are original and therefore protected by copyright. I work hard to do what I do, I have a brand name, it's not particularly recognisable and I don't earn a lot of money, but I would be very upset if someone copied my designs in order to profit from them - it wouldn't matter to me if their prices were higher or lower than mine. 

I don't care if a company makes millions from their designs, or - like me - a few bucks here and there, their rights are the same as mine and neither of us deserve more or less protection from someone else stealing them and profiting from other people's hard work.