Is there a mobo downgrade?

I have heard that gigabyte are downgrading their motherboards by just doing a refurbishment of the previous ones, adding a little power and rebranding them They are not doing it without telling customers since they are labeled Rev 1.1, Rev 3.0 etc. Why do they have to do this? Is this the norm with other brands? Can a refurbished board have more power than a new one?
