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Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

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Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#371

Post by treesprite82 »

pbecotte wrote: post #226

I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…

If the project is "no more similar to Replit than the 15 other (commercial!) ones you can find on Google by searching “run python online” or “online programming environment”." and uses none of Replit's internal design decisions, then I don't think it's fair to call it a clone.

I am just taking the author at their word though. Could turn out that they copy-pasted large chunks of non-FOSS code from Replit or something.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#372

Post by cycomanic »

brabel wrote: post #203
yellow_lead wrote: post #3

A fancy funded company like Replit getting scared by an intern's weekend project is entertaining. If your moat is so low it can be replicated in a few days, I think this open source project is the least of their worries.

Agreed... but the intern is obviously incredibly naive in thinking that repl.it would be happy to see one of their ex-interns working on a project that does pretty much the same kind of thing they're doing... whether or not this is a threat to them right now. There's a tiny, but non-zero chance, that this project could become successful and who knows, take marketshare from repl.it... and while everyone is pretending…

>Just look at this from the other side: you employ lots of people to work on some product, you teach them "secrets of the trade", send them to conferences, let them participate in making decisions, giving them extraordinary insight in the area of work you are active on... and as soon as they leave your company, they use all that knowledge to try to create something with that on their own (I can understand it, once you konw stuff and enjoy it, you want to keep working on it even in your own time), just for fun... basically spreading some of that knowledge you gave them and making it packaged and accessible not only to future contributors of their project, but to all competitors and genuine copycats out there.

Two things, first: You write like the company did the teaching, sending to conferences, allowing to participate ... out of the goodness of their heart. Obviously they did this because they saw a value in this, in fact they even pay their employees money to do these things.

Moreover, what do you think happens when people leave companies, they never use the knowledge they acquired? Do the companies continue to own that knowledge? Moreover, it even happens all the time employee leave and even found direct competitors to their previous employees. Just look at the founding history of Intel for a famous example. Also by the same measures we could accuse the repl.it CEO of stealing ideas from codeacademy and facebook where he worked previously, I mean he build an interactive website.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#373

Post by vecinu »

normac2 wrote: post #146

I'm on a job search, and Replit is one of the places I was going to apply, off of their listings on HN Who is Hiring?. So much for that, and I suspect a lot of devs are going to feel the same. (I don't think I'm good enough to get in, but there're a lot of really good devs who read HN who are.) In a seller's market for developers, this could hurt them in the form of less good talent applying. That said, my gut feelin…

Not only am I not interested in working for repl.it but I have asked my org to never pay for their products due to this behavior, we should not reward it and money has the loudest voice.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#374

Post by advanced-DnD »

pcmaffey wrote: post #152
risyachka wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kinda funny how their CEO writes on Twitter all the time that they are the best company in the world, with the best product, do most innovations in tech etc and 10 minutes later he is threatened by a small open-source project that wasn't even created to compete.

He blocked me on Twitter for pointing out something (technical) he said was wrong, and then he deleted his tweet. Told me everything I need to know about that guy.

He's deleting a lot of tweets as we speak.. I think he got famous

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#375

Post by paxys »

pbecotte wrote: post #226

I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…

The knowledge of something in your head belongs to you, not a previous employer. Silicon Valley was founded and continues to flourish because employees at large companies go "I can do this better myself", and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#376

Post by kumarm »

pbecotte wrote: post #226

I...am on the side of the company here? wierd... An employee of a company left, and then made an open source clone of the company's software. The fact that the software was easy to clone or that others had done it previously doesn't seem really relevant. Several times I have left a company, and I could replicate a good percentage of it in a couple days too, not because it was easy, but because the months/years of exp…

I think you are right on point and project should be taken down.

Both acted childish. One being an intern is understandable, Replit CEO should have acted little more mature.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#377

Post by drusepth »

MattGaiser wrote: post #259
codingdave wrote: post #111

> Naturally, I took down my project right away... So a CEO bullied you. He threatened to have lawyers look at something, accused you of behaving poorly, and accused you of being difficult. He is being manipulative. He is trying to guilt / scare you into stopping. And it worked. For all readers... do not be afraid of lawyers. Especially if nobody has even talked to them yet. Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will…

> Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will not push a losing agenda. They don't need to push it very far to cause a lot of harm to an individual and relatively bury them in costs.

especially a "new grad with no company, no funding, and no commercial ambitions"

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#378

Post by wutbrodo »

normac2 wrote: post #146

I'm on a job search, and Replit is one of the places I was going to apply, off of their listings on HN Who is Hiring?. So much for that, and I suspect a lot of devs are going to feel the same. (I don't think I'm good enough to get in, but there're a lot of really good devs who read HN who are.) In a seller's market for developers, this could hurt them in the form of less good talent applying. That said, my gut feelin…

> That said, my gut feeling as an outsider is that they feel genuinely burnt by a former employee making something similar to their product. Not just cynically trying to smash the competition. Not that that justifies anything—everyone thinks they're the good guy (well, almost everyone).

Agreed, I think it's totally fair for the CEO to be a little peeved by the project, and the complaint is about how horrible his handling of it was. This is exacerbated by how unfailingly polite and professional the ex-intern is in the (presumably) unabridged email thread.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#379

Post by Jhsto »

daniel-thompson wrote: post #122
cole-k wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second-hand source here, but I’m pretty sure Riju postdates the author’s internship. IANAL but if he signed a non-compete maybe this could be a legal issue.

Replit is based in SF, and non-competes aren't enforceable in California.

All YC companies are legally based in Delaware. Though if the work is done in California, I do not know if the Delaware laws are enforceable, even if the case is settled in Delaware.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#380

Post by unyttigfjelltol »

codingdave wrote: post #111

> Naturally, I took down my project right away... So a CEO bullied you. He threatened to have lawyers look at something, accused you of behaving poorly, and accused you of being difficult. He is being manipulative. He is trying to guilt / scare you into stopping. And it worked. For all readers... do not be afraid of lawyers. Especially if nobody has even talked to them yet. Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will…

It seemed obvious the OP had some loose threads or lack of confidence in his positioning. A hard "no" only applies if you know you're right. If, on the other hand, you're hearing confusing, well-articulated words, from important people, caution nearly always is rewarded. Let them play their cards (if they will) and then afterward fully informed with whatever advice you choose to seek, decide whether to resurrect the project.

The OP doesn't have an operating business, he can decide to put it on hiatus, as a resulting of bullying or for any other reason.

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