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Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

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Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#21

Post by pbiggar »

Presumably they raised money, and will need to raise money again. That means that they have money (it's worthwhile to sue, assuming you can get damages). It also means it's a huge lever: they'll never be able to raise under active litigation, they'll have to tell their board, etc.

Now is the time to do this. If they just pivoted, and are literally copying you, they can just pivot to something else. You could even get them to agree to transfer/refer their customers as a settlement.

All this assumes they did something illegal. Copyright is the best thing to check: have they literally copied anything (APIs may be legal to copy, see Oracle vs Google).

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#22

Post by bananapub »

version_five wrote: post #16
dtornabene wrote: post #13

Its also pretty telling how quickly this is getting flagged off the front page!

Would you like more of the front page to be people lobbing vague allegations at YC funded companies? The only reason it isn't flagged to death is because they make a point of staying out of YC stuff, it's definitely not front page material.

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#23

Post by anigbrowl »

reaperman wrote: post #14
anigbrowl wrote: post #6

Stop talking about it and call a law firm. Your local Bar Association will be able to give you a list of firms/attorneys that practice in this area, or your existing lawyer may have a recommendation. Many law firms will give you a short consultation for free. Bring a succinct written summary of the facts with you that briefly describes the product, how you discovered the issue, and what you found when you investigate…

> considering your competitors' employees already infiltrated your slack channel. It was a public community slack channel. There may have been proprietary/protected information shared in there but in my naive opinion (NAL!) that wouldn't be protected by trade secrets if it was shared publicly. Some things could still be protected by copyright or trademark but it's pretty unlikely. It's possible copying the API could…

Litigation is about more than the legal argument alone, and the legal arguments often turn on specific facts that may seem general on casual inspection. Other factors to consider include cost, embarrassing facts that may emerge during discovery, and reputational damage. That's why cases are often settled on the eve of trial, sometimes for significant sums.

Getting a professional opinion on the options is generally better than just making assumptions. Copycats and rip-offs are a fact of life, but that doesn't mean they should enjoy free reign. It's not that I think litigation is better than execution, but people exclusively advocating the latter are expressing an opinion about how they think things should work in a perfect world while not having any assets of their own on the line.

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#24

Post by Zealotux »

Don’t worry, listen to pg https://x.com/paulg/status/1697761812698034630?s=46

> When people copy you, the best strategy is usually to ignore them. People who copy you are (a) unoriginal and (b) opportunists, and those are both strong predictors of failure. If you wait them out, they'll eventually drop away.

/s?

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#25

Post by sheepscreek »

doublerebel wrote: post #18

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This is just another proof point, you may even be able to use it to raise more capital. Focus on your differentiator/USP and providing the best service to your customers. Any decent and obvious market has copycats and competitors.

This. By pivoting to your business model, they are lending it validation and doing you a favour. It’s another reason for a VC to invest in your product vs theirs, as you have been at it longer.

If you really believe in yourself and your team, work hard to outcompete them. Like many others have said, unless there is something illegal about this, it is fair game.

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#27

Post by scentChicken »

The real answer is to out execute them. Taking time to do legal action will only waste valuable resources.

Ironically the founder worked at Rocket-internet which was notorious for copying successful startups

https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/wimdu-rocket-internets-air...

Re: Ask HN: YC company copied our product, what can we do?

#29

Post by constantly »

scentChicken wrote: post #27

The real answer is to out execute them. Taking time to do legal action will only waste valuable resources. Ironically the founder worked at Rocket-internet which was notorious for copying successful startups https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/wimdu-rocket-internets-air...

[flagged]
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