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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?

#71

Post by nico »

jacquesm wrote: post #67
nico wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did miss it, thank you You can still apply multiple times after getting rejected. There’s plenty of stories of companies/founders that only got into YC after several rejections To be honest, if I were in their situation I wouldn’t apply again, but it could be a good move regardless

I'm not sure what YC's stance is on investing in established businesses, but in the VC world as a rule it is 'not done' to invest in multiple competitors active in the same field. That path is rife with conflicts of interest.

You are right. Not sure about their official policy, but I know of multiple instances of where they’ve invested on competitors of their own companies

Sometimes this happens without them even knowing, because they put money into a company very early on, then the company pivots and starts competing with another YC company

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

#72

Post by ewe »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #43
invalidname wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you go this route be sure to grab evidence now. Screenshots, logs and anything you can to show the product similarities and IP issues. Before they change stuff and try to erase it.

https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-worksp...

this is gold, thanks folks

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

#73

Post by jacquesm »

stuartjohnson12 wrote: post #28
danr4 wrote: post #17

Looks like the company in question is Rehook.ai https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rehook-ai

I daresay the copy looks much more appealing than the original. A tale as old as time.

So that makes it right?

Depending on what they copied it can be anywhere from 'meh' to 'guilty'. What it looks like isn't relevant other than in the context of whether or not it is their original work or not.

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

#74

Post by jacquesm »

mindcrime wrote: post #7

Unless they literally stole your code, or had access to privileged information from your YC application or something, I doubt there is much you can do. It's not illegal to enter the same business as an existing company, or even to make an app that does the exact same thing. Where it starts to get iffy is when you start talking about people literally copying your HTML/CSS or what-not. Is that the case here? If so, cal…

Marketing copy and sales documentation is also copyrighted.

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

#75

Post by jacquesm »

nico wrote: post #71
jacquesm wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what YC's stance is on investing in established businesses, but in the VC world as a rule it is 'not done' to invest in multiple competitors active in the same field. That path is rife with conflicts of interest.

You are right. Not sure about their official policy, but I know of multiple instances of where they’ve invested on competitors of their own companies Sometimes this happens without them even knowing, because they put money into a company very early on, then the company pivots and starts competing with another YC company

All of the VCs I'm involved with would definitely have a problem with that.

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

#76

Post by jacquesm »

ewe wrote: post #72
toomuchtodo wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://slack.com/help/articles/201658943-Export-your-worksp...

this is gold, thanks folks

Good luck with this. It must be very frustrating to see this happening. Make sure you cross your 't's and dot your 'i's before going to court on this and offer them to settle first assuming you have hard proof that they copied your work product.

Document everything.

They item would be whether or not YC is aware of this and whether or not your application or parts thereof somehow made it to these people. If it did you have a much stronger case, if it did not then you need to document very carefully which bits you believe have been copied, timestamp the works and make sure your lawyer gives you a fair assessment of what to expect in terms of costs and what your claim will be.

I can't look into your walled but depending on how much backing you've got you may be able to hit the pretty hard or you may have to walk away from it, even if you have proof, hard to tell.

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

#77

Post by ewe »

dtornabene wrote: post #11
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…

Pretty wild how much "just execute better" posts there are, one wonders if its the common response to a situation like this, from this community, and what that says about trustworthiness in general of YC "founder" types!

Yeah, it seriously sucks. I've been following YC for over 10 years, and this is so disappointing.

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

#79

Post by ewe »

stuartjohnson12 wrote: post #28
danr4 wrote: post #17

Looks like the company in question is Rehook.ai https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rehook-ai

I daresay the copy looks much more appealing than the original. A tale as old as time.

Yeah, we didn't have YC money for a website designer, unfortunately.

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

#80

Post by ewe »

Zealotux wrote: post #24

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?

Yeah, said a guy who invested in them.
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