[seiji]

copy any potential idea coming out of the US which I don't understand the issue with.

Except, they don't just copy the idea, they copy the entire products and companies wholesale (interface, API, UI, user interaction model). How is that not bad?

[peterjancelis]

I love how everybody in Silicon Valley claims ideas don't matter, only execution does, then hate on the company that is taking that maxim to its ultimate conclusion.

[ThomPete]

Exactly!

[lmm]

As a European they're adding a lot of value for me, by making useful products available for me.

Don't like your products being copied? Stop making them US-only. I would use the "real thing" if I could.

[stock_toaster]

With the recent "death" of safe harbor in Europe, I can only assume it will become more pervasive, as it gets harder for silicon valley startups to do business internationally (at least until they are large enough to afford multi-presence).

[pavlov]

There are plenty of legal protections for corporate IP: patents, copyrights, trade secrets... If an aspect of a business can't be protected, competitors are free to copy it.

Consider a small coffee shop. Are they allowed to write the customer's name on the cup? That's clearly not an original idea, they copied it from a bigger competitor. Should it be forbidden?

[gnaritas]

How is it bad? Business doesn't have to be original.

[ThomPete]

So when italian restaurants copy each other it's bad?

Not sure I understand the issue.