HOT TOPIC #3: Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

In the United States, the term “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” is a legal metaphor used to describe evidence gathered with the aid of information that was itself obtained illegally. The reasoning being, if the source of the evidence (the "tree") is tainted, then anything gained from it (the "fruit") would also be tainted.

We could also apply the “Fruit of the Poisonous Tree” doctrine to bogus martial artists. If a grandmaster of a martial art is found to be bogus, the every rank awarded by the master is bogus, and every rank awarded by these people is also bogus, etc. Whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, and regardless of whether it is fair or not, any rank that stems from a bogus linage is tainted and is also bogus. You may not have been aware of the fraud being perpetrated against you and you may have had the most honorable of intentions when obtaining the rank, but the rank is still bogus. When you buy what you legitimately thought was a Rolex watch, and it turns out to be a fake, the fact that you were scammed does not make the watch real—it is still a fake.