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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

#881

Post by Griffinsauce »

rurabe wrote: post #781
tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

pretty weird/low class move to build a free clone of the product you just worked on. pretty petty decision to threaten to sue your former intern for his weird move. also, threatening someone with money is a pretty surefire way to look like an asshole. similarly petty decision to spend hours documenting everything to post on HN and start throwing mud in public. everyone seems well within their legal rights but ethical…

> similarly petty decision to spend hours documenting everything to post on HN and start throwing mud in public.

Hard disagree with this one. The other options are to either give in to an aggressive threat or take the risk to get sued into oblivion.

This is the only defense for someone in their position against an aggressor with millions and lawyers, the power differential is huge.

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

#882

Post by k5z »

rurabe wrote: post #781
tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

pretty weird/low class move to build a free clone of the product you just worked on. pretty petty decision to threaten to sue your former intern for his weird move. also, threatening someone with money is a pretty surefire way to look like an asshole. similarly petty decision to spend hours documenting everything to post on HN and start throwing mud in public. everyone seems well within their legal rights but ethical…

Though there’s always that thought that a situation like this undoubtedly makes for a fantastic viral marketing campaign…

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

#883

Post by neolog »

rurabe wrote: post #781
tommoor wrote: post #634

> we’re also excited to announce one of the first (of many!) projects that Amjad has worked on with us: Codecademy Labs, the easiest way to play with JavaScript, Ruby, and Python online I'll just leave this here so we can all bask in the insane hypocrisy of this entire episode. https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca... Edit: See Amjad's response below – seems Repl.it may have pre-dated this hiri…

pretty weird/low class move to build a free clone of the product you just worked on. pretty petty decision to threaten to sue your former intern for his weird move. also, threatening someone with money is a pretty surefire way to look like an asshole. similarly petty decision to spend hours documenting everything to post on HN and start throwing mud in public. everyone seems well within their legal rights but ethical…

> pretty weird/low class move to build a free clone of the product you just worked on

It's extremely common to do that. Where do you think all this industrial open source software comes from? People work on a product, then they leave the company and want access to a similar tool. Happens all the time.

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

#884

Post by llaolleh »

amasad wrote: post #757

Hey everyone, I want to apologize for the inappropriate use of power here. While I do believe there is an ethical line that was crossed here, I should have called him to understand his point of view and work it out. Which is what I'll try to do now, and see if we can get his project back up again. I'm sorry Radon. The lesson for me here is to internalize how I'm no longer the struggling kid from Jordan fighting for m…

I believe in your apology, and thank you for trying to make things right. Everyone makes mistakes. What's done is done. We can only learn from it.

It's easy to become emotional and protective of a project you've poured blood and tears into, which probably kept you up at nights, amidst all the FUD.

At the end of the day, the world is better with Replit than without it. A world where any kid can learn to program with a dirt cheap device anywhere in the world without dealing with dependency hell is worth fighting for.

A lot of young kids and future builders and innovators look up to you! Please remember to be humble and kind as Replit, snd you, gather more influence.

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

#885

Post by pknerd »

elzbardico wrote: post #644
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…

Unless you're wealthy, really wealthy, please DO BE afraid of lawyers. Specially in the US, where justice is mostly a rich man's game.

> Specially in the US, where justice is mostly a rich man's game

Same in Pakistan.

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

#887

Post by sakoht »

It is sad that, given that the company likely doesn't have a case unless some explicit IP was violated, that threats of court allow money to decide the outcome.

But more sad than that, to me, is that creative energy on both sides isn't doing something more novel. A company doing something an intern can clone. An intern facing a sea of unsolved problems that chooses a space that is covered, as he points out, many times over.

If copying is the highest form of flattery, why flatter your former boss so much?

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

#888

Post by truncate »

newbie789 wrote: post #854
amasad wrote: post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a clone of Replit that we made work at Codecademy. I started working on Replit (or repl.it) back when I was a student in Jordan. I didn't have a laptop so every time I wanted to get some programming done I had to setup a development environment at the university or at work. The idea for Replit was when you needed a repl to do some coding you should easily get one from anywhere including a mobile device. I th…

Fascinating! What flaws that existed in the architecture of Replit that existed in 2019 and persist to this day are still considered to be trade secrets worth pursuing legal remedies to keep secret? I understand that you may not be able to describe the invisible long-term proprietary flaws for a number of possible reasons, but can you ballpark the number of these critical flaws that are the unique IP of replit? Or at…

I'd add that its not uncommon to see same flaws that you'd naturally add when working on similar kind of product

So just saying it has the same flaws as my product by no means implies anything. Very well may mean that the other person didn't notice it or de-prioritized it, just like you when you started the project (which is why the flaw exists in my product at first place).

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

#890

Post by KingOfCoders »

samatman wrote: post #261
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

Yeah, holding a VC fund and accelerator responsible for every tantrum thrown by one of their proteges is worth a downvote. This kind of catastrophizing doesn't contribute. For one thing, you jumped from "this kind of person" to "these kind of people", without supporting evidence. Do you have a process which can identify, in advance, everyone who is going to be an asshole to a former intern? While picking enough winne…

'"this kind of person" to "these kind of people"'

Oh, if I had two wishes from a genie, first would be world peace, second would be being a native English speaker.

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