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Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

intuitiveexplanations.com

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

#421

Post by brb3 »

fhrow4484 wrote: post #361
thefunnyman wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their silence on this matter speaks volumes. I’ve seen the Replit founders comment on just about every other HN post that pops up regarding their company so it’s quite surprising that they’ve made no comment here. Very curious to hear the other side of the story if there is one.

Here's a glimpse of the other side of the story, a reply from the CEO a few min ago: https://twitter.com/amasad/status/1401957368510906369?s=19

He's implying here that Radon used source code from replit. That's a pretty big claim to make, I'm curious if that's the case.

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

#422

Post by strbean »

debacle wrote: post #40

The only question that matters is "Did you sign something saying you agreed not to name something like this when you interned for Repl.it, and is it enforceable in your jurisdiction?" I think this makes Amjad look a bit like an ass, but I don't know him personally or your relationship with him or repl.it

Seems like both Radon and Repl.it are based in California. If that is correct, then non-compete agreements are only enforceable for founders/partners in a business.

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

#423

Post by diogenesjunior »

seg_lol wrote: post #360
robertkrahn01 wrote: post #110

I've worked for ten years on the Lively Kernel project [1,2,3], originally created by Dan Ingalls at Sun Microsystems. Running JavaScript, Smalltalk, R, Clojure, Haskell, Python, C++ and a few other languages in it. When I first saw replit, I thought, wow someone copied 1/4 of Lively. Do they really think they had an original idea? [1] https://lively-kernel.org [2] https://lively-next.org [3] https://cloxp.github.io/…

There still exists a fork of the Riju project on github which I have cloned locally. I would be more interested in running all of these languages in wasm and the execution state can be live migrated between the server and the client, that would be something that could surpass other online repls. https://qvault.io/python/running-python-in-the-browser-with-... Repl.it has no standing to code written by Radon.

>There still exists a fork of the Riju project on github

Link?

Edit: NVM, found it: https://github.com/umesh-timalsina/riju

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

#424

Post by dragonwriter »

cduzz wrote: post #415
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 watc…

> I am aware that this is not the 1950's superman definition of justice.

It’s not any definition of justice, its simply the rule of the powerful over the weak.

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

#425

Post by mypalmike »

jfrunyon wrote: post #326
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…

> It only becomes meaningful if and when ... your own lawyer believes they have a case That is true, but most people don't have their "own lawyer" to ask.

Is not too difficult to find a decent employment or IP lawyer to spend an hour with you for a few hundred dollars to go over a document and advise you on how to respond.

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

#426

Post by jollybean »

Driko04 wrote: post #245

anyone who has ever interviewed with Amjad knows hes two-faced. He had a posting for a marketing position open forever and would have you work about 3 weeks for the interview. He would ask for marketing campaigns and how to implementing them. thinking that he was testing your skill set but actually just stealing ideas. I use to use Repl.it but forget. I really hope this company burns. He lacks the understanding of wh…

So this is a serious claim, did this happen to you? Or is this a situation you have intimate knowledge of? Of is this hearsay?

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

#427

Post by nso »

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…

If what the ex-intern did can be summarized as slapping an eval() around a form submission and that would somehow threaten your business model then your product is intellectually void and garbage.

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

#429

Post by jollybean »

bravura wrote: post #220
KingOfCoders wrote: post #95

Vote me down, but Ycombinator: "It's all about the founders blah blah blah" - if their process finds and funds these kind of people, the process is broken. https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/repl-it

Yes, but supporting remote by offering $0 - 0 salary and 0.00% - 0.00% equity seems legit and completely transparent: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/repl-it/jobs/aihA75TQr...

I suggest that it's not actually $0 but rather they didn't want to disclose the ranges in the form.

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

#430

Post by brabel »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #225
brabel wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Of course he's naive. He's just out of college, would you have been more savvy at that age?

No. I didn't even say I was any less naive :D I am talking from experience, almost got into trouble because of similar behaviour, but after thinking hard about the situation, I decided that I was actually in the wrong for thinking I can just take what I learned and give it for free to the world and my old company's competitors to do as they wish. I can see how I, as the CEO, would've not thought nicely of such behaviour.
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