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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

#111

Post by codingdave »

> 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 not push a losing agenda. Yet they also must do what their client asks, so lawyers looking into a concern, or even sending nastygrams... those are meaningless actions. It only becomes meaningful if and when if their lawyers indicate they believe they really have a case, or if your own lawyer believes they have a case. Everything before that is posturing and bullying.

If I were in the same situation as OP, I'd state that my intent was positive, ask to be informed of the results of discussions with attorneys, and wish them to have a nice day. Admit no wrong, make no apologies, ignore irrelevant statements (in particular personal attacks), and just let it slide until they take a real action of some kind.

Once they do take an action, then it might be appropriate to do what they want. But seriously... stop letting people be bullies.

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

#112

Post by fourseventy »

reitanuki wrote: post #14

Historically, you didn't need an account to use Repl.it. It used to be one of the best sites to go to for this kind of thing. After they added the account requirement and seeing this blog post, I think I'll have to change my opinion about them.

Agreed. I used to use Repli.it all the time if i just wanted to test some Ruby code real quick. Now when I go to the site its asking me to make an account and set up a project and all kinds of nonsense that I don't care about

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

#113

Post by johnwheeler »

Situation sounds like to me is:

CEO keeps in touch with beast mode 10x'er intern who both impressed him and needed to be kept at arms length.

Beast mode intern flirts with the idea of launching a competing startup under the guise of innocent open source project and transparency with a passing mention of project in email.

CEO realizes he needs to shut intern down otherwise any communication that looks supportive might be used against him later on.

Intern realizes the jig is up. Writes apology to CEO out of fear and discomfort.

CEO responds that he doesn't want anything further to do with him.

Beast mode intern exercises final option to write a blog post attempting to gain community support.

Something or other like that...

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

#114

Post by phendrenad2 »

The messages by the CEO are somewhat unprofessional and very untactful. However, I think that they're well within their right to demand this be taken down. Perhaps, since you explicitly brought it to the attention of the CEO directly, they must demand that you take it down, or risk losing the ability to litigate against other more egregious examples of copycats by ex employees. But I'm no lawyer.

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

#116

Post by thecupisblue »

Exuma wrote: post #53
rd wrote: post #7

If I’m reading those emails correctly, Amjad the CEO directly emailed you occasionally. It is pretty stunning that as the CEO of the company, he would stoop to what I interpret as pretty unprofessional communication and petty threats. I also am failing to connect the dots about why Replit would even feel threatened - if you were as helpful of an intern as described, you’d think they would recognize that you had good…

I think the CEO is absolutely nuts here. With that said, I also think certain employees though have a very slippery mentality of this sort of vibe where they do things that might be sketchy or on the borderline not OK (but JUST on the line), and then rationalize as "but ... reason!". The tone of this whole article is very subtly reminiscent of that... the type of person that when given an inch will take 10 inches (no…

The tone here is "uhhh, I did this thing and it turns out it might be bad but I dont think so". Tbh, the tone he kept here is quite well mannered comparing to the situation at hand.

The vibe is more about a person being excited for doing something cool with tech and a company where they interned (not worked, interned!) feeling threatened because it crosses into their domain. If "let’s see what else can I maake with this" is an offense, then to hell I'll throw my lightbulbs away.

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

#117

Post by haram_masala »

stuaxo wrote: post #37

Maybe I was just naïve but when I first started reading HN there was a lot of optimism around startups, maybe it's just the scales falling from our eyes, but it just seems to be one shitty deed after another - maybe the ecosystem was always poisonous ?

I’d say startup culture has changed quite a bit over the past 25 years. It was always highly competitive, of course, but it has IMO lost some of the honor and unspoken rules that it had. Employees are much more likely to be screwed out of any windfall when a liquidity event or IPO occurs, for example, and in fact even junior investors get pushed around too.

I honestly don’t know what has caused this change.

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

#118

Post by aarohmankad »

stevebmark wrote: post #58

Did the author disclose the work on Riju as a prior invention before joining Repl.it? If so that puts him in the clear. I would also check your hiring contract to see what kind of clauses are in there about prior inventions. For larger companies, I don't think this company behavior would surprise anyone. I think I can understand where Repl.it is coming from. All I know is this behavior (by Riju author) isn't somethin…

I think there might have been a misunderstanding on your point. From what I read, Riju was wholly created after the intern left Repl.it

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

#119

Post by detaro »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #94
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.

They were funded by YCombinator. Should we expect other YC companies to go after open source projects?

Why would funding by YC in any way suggest that a startup might not do that?

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

#120

Post by yepthatsreality »

Putting your foot down and being comfortable delivering aggression and threats does not make you a good CEO or even leader. I often see CEO’s demand unwavering respect and loyalty when they do little to return it and are highly unreasonable. Some people expect this image and demands from a CEO, but often I think it just leads to poor leadership. Steve Jobs is often quoted as being an effective asshole. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been better and more cordial. You can often get the reactions, loyalty, and respect you want from other methods. Very juvenile, is my take.
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