It all started when a steel ball and magnet became one of the more effective ways to prop up a smartphone back in 2012. The Steelie phone holder was just a newborn from a machine shop in Boulder. The little magnet and ball inspired hundreds, possibly thousands, of similar products — one might call them knockoffs — and created loads of legal work for the Colorado company behind the ball, Nite Ize. From fending off poorly made copies to battling imitators that ripped off the Steelie brand name and packaging, Nite Ize went into whack-a-mole mode trying to keep up with products online that infringed on its intellectual property.