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

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

#411

Post by burnished » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:00 PM UTC

Grustaf wrote: post #107

It would be helpful if you could post the designs side by side so we could all judge if you have copied the design. If you haven't, they are simply in the wrong and you should re-publish you site. If your design is a copy, then most of your arguments are not very relevant. > Every similarity between my project and Replit can be explained by looking only at GitHub repositories and blog posts that were published online…

Honestly I think they make their point quite well, but some of those bullets points came across as a young person adding any argument they could think of/needing some validation on these points with the net effect that it weakened the overall argument (by being easily nitpicked).

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

#412

Post by threatofrain » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:01 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...)

Successful legal or medical malpractice suits are rare, and there's insurance for that. All law firms are a little profligate and will have their own internal calculus as to how much to push the client.

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

#413

Post by kyawzazaw » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

stevebmark wrote: post #285

wernercd wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Prior invention" He created Riju AFTER working as an intern at Repl.it. From the article: > I worked for Replit in Summer 2019 Also from the article, regarding Riju commits: > 2020-06-05 df9ba38 Initial commit "I can understand" to a degree. That's what time-limited non-competes are for. I think a lot depends on what he signed as he was hired and/or leaving Repl.it - was there a "you can't work for a competitor for…

I'm not thinking so much about non compete, I'm thinking about copyright violation or trade secrets (even though it's not the most stunning tech here). I specifically see this commit message: > repl.it superiority!! It's weird to have that commit message and then to claim Riju is unrelated and not a clone of Repl.it.

It is explained

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

#414

Post by gonehome » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:02 PM UTC

aparsons wrote: post #406

gonehome wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah - I don't really like piling on, but Replit and Roam both give off massive alarms for me regarding the founders. Both seem to think they're Xerox PARC - or the most ambitious software companies on earth, both products seem pretty underwhelming. Just seems wildly disproportionate to what they're doing. At least Steve Jobs was actually building stuff that was revolutionary. Elon Musk is building reusable rockets a…

Right? REPL.it is - unironically - a weekend project, that the founder loves to pretend is a marvel of engineering

I don't know if I'd go that far - I think dev environment set up is a massive pain, especially for newbies and it scares a lot of people away from development because of constant issues.

Solving this would be helpful for teaching and I think it's not trivial to do well. I think there's an argument that being good at troubleshooting and debugging is 90% of programming so the shitty dev environment setup currently is a bit of a filter, but I generally think that's a bad status quo rationalization.

All this is to say - I think there's a market and the product is likely valuable, but I also don't think it's reusable rockets or rebuilding the internet or the 'most ambitious software company in history'. This kind of framing turns me off and when paired with stuff like this post leads me to avoid the company entirely.

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

#415

Post by cduzz » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:02 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…

If you want justice, be prepared to pay for it.

If you're unable to pay for it, you will not receive justice.

I am aware that this is not the 1950's superman definition of justice. It is the "welcome to America" version of justice, that you often can't even get if you can pay for it, depending on who you are.

So, you pick that fight. I've got a family and a life I need to protect; I'll stand on the sidelines and watch, thank you very much.

https://gawker.com/how-things-work-1785604699

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

#416

Post by gricardo99 » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:04 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…

As much as I also hate the idea of giving in to legal threats/bullying, I don't think this is very good advice.

Lawyers may not like losing cases, but they like billable hours even more. So as long as their client is paying, they will follow their wishes as best they can.

Even "meaningless actions" such as "cease and desist" letters or "demand" letters probably need consultation with a lawyer for a proper response. This "admit no wrong" advice can actually be tricky. What may seem like an innocent or innocuous comment could make your situation worse.

By the time you have an actual civil action against you, you may have missed the opportunity to end the matter without getting to this point.

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

#417

Post by mr337 » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

This looks like a company/CEO that loves to benefit from open source as long as it benefits them so strongly.

Further more it looks like a CEO that can't innovate and the only options is to innovate through litigation. Must be something about that VC money burning a hole in their pocket to send lawyers vs adding features, marketing, or capturing new users.

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

#418

Post by Buttons840 » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

anticristi wrote: post #233

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.

Gosh, I wish I received 20 million in funding for that idea that needed three days to be technically replicated by an intern. My wish: Replit should sue intern, intern should get free attorney from EFF, case should be dismissed as "WTF" in court. Future CEOs will know that "an intern would need three days to technically replicate" is not a differentiator. Also, hope is not a strategy. VCs would learn that hearing BS…

How long would it take an intern to replicate Twitter? Is Twitter worth millions? I think so.

I think it's really easy for tech teams to do things in a sub-optimal way and then get all caught up in fixing problems of their own making and start to think they're doing really great technical work and that it is a competitive advantage for the company. More companies need to face the fact that their software can be easily replicated and that the value lies elsewhere, such as brand, reputation, reliability, good customer service, etc -- other things that an intern can't replicate in a weekend.

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

#419

Post by coupdejarnac » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:05 PM UTC

Well, this is a bummer. I was planning to make replit critical to one of my ventures. I've been receiving their emails for a while, and their chirpy nature always struck me as a bit odd.

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

#420

Post by devoutsalsa » Mon, Jun 07, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #344

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 af…

It goes both ways. Imagine Replit’s attorney going after OP. If OP didn’t take down the site, then suing them is going to be a huge expense & waste of time. Is Replit really gonna pay some corporate attorney $600-ish per hour to harass someone? You don’t even need a lawyer to show up in court and say “I’m a broke ass new grad, and these guys are trying to take down my website. I don’t even know why, but I’m dragging it out because I don’t like being bullied.” A good attorney would say “it costs nothing to demand we take this site down, but if the kid wants to fight us, do you really think it’ll be worth the effort? I’m expensive and this is not a threat to your business.” A bad attorney will just bleed Replit dry to accomplish very little.

If you sue me, I’ll just say “ok, see you in court, let me know if you need anything for discovery“. You’ll be spending lots of money and I’ll be spending nothing. It’s only expensive for me if I get an attorney, and I don’t need one. What happens if we go to court and lose? I have to take down my website? If there’s one lawyer in town, they drive a Chevrolet. If there’s two lawyers in town, they both drive Cadillacs.