Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project • Hacker News Board

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

#341

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

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.

That's true, but there is no legal backing behind a laywer-initiated nastygram, so why fold before it even gets to that point?

It's true, the US legal system can be hopelessly expensive, but it is still possible to push back before it gets to that point if you're sure you're in the right.

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

#342

Post by mypalmike » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

wolpoli wrote: post #201

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.

The CEO is actually worried that this weekend project will make it hard for replit to raise fundings from investors because it makes it look like there is no moat to hosting hundreds of programming languages. The investors don't know that the code here doesn't scale.

Also, there is no moat. As far as I know, there are no major protected intellectual properties, technical or business learning curves, regulatory hurdles, intensive capitalization requirements, economies of scale... I suppose there may be some amount of network effect, but not so much that it's hard to imagine a competitor struggling to overcome it.

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

#343

Post by shkkmo » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #206

jonny_eh wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will not push a losing agenda They will if they get paid.

Even if they get paid in advance, lawyers are acutely aware of the costs of litigation (even when you ultimately win) and that losing cases is one of the most common triggers for lawyers being sued, so, they really don't like losing cases even if they are getting paid. (There are caveats and exceptions, sure, but as a broad rule...)

Dropping a case or settling a case is not the same as losing a case. There is quite a lot of legal pressure and financial cost that can be applied that puts you at no risk of losing a case.

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

#344

Post by smnrchrds » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:42 PM UTC

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…

Counterpoint: be afraid of lawyers. They may not be able to win s judgment against you, but they can easily bankrupt you. Remember the case where a man criticized Proctorio and was hit with a SLAPP lawsuit aimed to silence him. He ended up spending 100k on legal costs and the case is only beginning. He would have been bankrupt despite being 100% legally in the right.

Fortunately for him, EFF decided to support him afterwards. But do not count on EFF paying for your legal defence.

Links:

https://twitter.com/Linkletter/status/1385004344903290883

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26900217

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-sues-proctorio-behalf...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26898651

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

#345

Post by antonzabirko » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #289

antonzabirko wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, are you going to pay my legal fees? If yes, please by all means reach out.

What legal fees? It costs you nothing to ignore the posturing of bullies.

That part yes, but what do you do once you get served? What do you do when you need to respond in court?

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

#346

Post by 29athrowaway » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

There is a world of prior art before replit, there is absolutely nothing they can patent or bully you about.

Do not apologize, that is an admission of guilt. Also, do not talk to that guy, you are making it worse.

The guy's objective is to kill replit competitors, which is itself a monopolistic practice which is probably illegal.

By the way, the guy sounds like a fucking jerk, I am closing my replit account. Good luck with your open source project.

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

#347

Post by klyrs » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #289

antonzabirko wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, are you going to pay my legal fees? If yes, please by all means reach out.

What legal fees? It costs you nothing to ignore the posturing of bullies.

What? Failure to heed a legal threat can result in a lawsuit. Failure to appear can result in a default judgement against you. Appearing in court without adequate representation isn't much safer. Appearing with adequate representation is probably out of OP's budget.

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

#348

Post by kyawzazaw » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

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…

What an odd take.

There was respect shown.

Replit is not that innovative or the pioneer of this idea - many have done this so many times before

Wit this silly logic, nobody can ever work for a compeitor.

Was Zoom's CEO unprofessional for starting Zoom after working so long in WebEx? How about Jet.com founder after working at Amazon?

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

#349

Post by vidarh » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

zemo wrote: post #55

anm89 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, poor repl.it who's explicitly threatening to use their big bankroll to squash a small developer doing something he is passionate about it. He should just shut up and accept the validity of their effort to silence him.

it feels like you're intentionally missing the point here. If repl.it is acting as if they believe they have legal leverage, why respond by giving them more leverage?

There's next to no additional leverage here, and bad PR is the best leverage you can get if you can't afford expensive lawyers.

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

#350

Post by burnished » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

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…

I think this is a bad a take. How many different positive ways was there to approach this situation? The response from the CEO was incredibly unprofessional and seemed unnecessarily antagonistic to the point of provocation.