Ask HN: Another startup blatantly copied us

[weitingliu]

I'm the founder of Arc (https://arc.dev).

Earlier today we noticed another startup with 3200+ upvotes on Product Hunt actually copied us completely:

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/cloud-devs-1

1) They copied our ENTIRE intro video that we published back in 2017 (when we were still called CodementorX).

Original Arc (CodementorX) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOp0Oz7ux8

vs Cloud Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naVBBZUkavg

Frame by frame. They even forgot to remove our X part of the logo at timestamp :17. We never gave permission to use this, and we’re sad to see such a blatant theft of our content that they are now marketing as their own.

2) We've also noticed they copied our website almost verbatim

Ours: https://arc.dev/become-a-remote-developer/get-started

> Become an Arc Developer > Let us know more about yourself by filling out this short application. It’ll take you less time to finish this form than your cup of joe!

vs Cloud Devs: https://clouddevs.io/apply-as-a-developer/

> Apply as a developer > Let us know more about yourself by filling out this short application. It’ll take you less time to finish this form than your cup of coffee!

What would you do in this situation?

[WnZ39p0Dgydaz1]

> What would you do in this situation?

Chuckle and move on. You cannot build a business on non-defensible stuff like website copy and introduction videos. Time spent worrying about this, or worse, fighting back, is wasted time and will only make things worse. As a startup you have more important things to worry about than this.

What makes you better than the competition? I assume it's the network you have built already? If it's your landing page copy, then you may be in trouble.

Though it's understandable that the people who created the content in the first place are upset about their work being stolen. I guess what they did was so good that others just wanted to use it :)

[tinus_hn]

Wouldn’t it be possible to just annoy them a lot by sending lots of DMCA takedowns to their hosting platforms?

[Viliam1234]

If you can outsource the work -- if you can pay someone else to keep spamming them -- it is a nice revenge.

But if you send the takedowns yourself, you are wasting both their and your time.

[weitingliu]

To be honest this did give our team a good comical relief in a somewhat stressful time .. :)

[codegeek]

I disagree with some posters asking you to move on and focus on something more important. Someone literally stole your work. It is not just an "inspiration". You should absolutely contact them and ask them to take it down. Send them a DMCA notice if needed. We should never condone theft saying "Move on because it is a waste of your time". Sometimes, you have to fight for what is right. You won't gain anything monetarily out of this but you have to let them know that this is NOT ok.

[muzani]

It seems you have done what you could. It's clear plagiarism and it should be called out.

But I don't think you should get too emotionally invested in it. Just keep doing what you're doing and use it to drive you into moving faster than them. I'd even try to be friends or proper rivals with them, as it means you can poach some of their staff (not the copywriters) if they fail.

[JoeMayoBot]

I know it can be upsetting because it's something you and others have poured their hearts into.

This happens occasionally. I've had material copied and have seen other people's entire websites copied. Recently, someone stole one of my colleague's startup app idea and posted their own knockoff with the same name in the app store.

Occasionally, I've contacted people who have copied my work and they've taken it down, which is the least expensive way to handle the problem. Other times, they just ignore my communication. You might contact an attorney to find out what your options are, which could vary for any given situation.

[brtkdotse]

Could you report them to Product Hunt? Seems like you have a pretty clear cut case

[weitingliu]

Thank you!

We later realized that although they've gotten a good amount of upvotes & comments, actually many of them came from possible fake accounts / bots ... (fake photos, no past PH/twitter activities, etc)

[thdespou]

Interesting. It looks like you can buy PH votes online if you search for relevant terms. I guess this is common tactic.

[fredgrott]

Public post on Medium congrats to the Cofounders that copied and point out that they copied the best and mix your pitch in and in addition get their mailing address and send them a white wreath of roses with a note saying we are watching you(for those who are not old enough the first president of Apple did this)

[cheshireoctopus]

Take it as further validation!

You can also be a bit cheeky and call them out and then use it for marketing!

https://medium.com/@zreitano/on-behalf-of-hims-patients-than...

[weitingliu]

While I'm amused, some of my colleagues were quite offended by this.

Our product manager, who wrote the original copy on Arc, had this comment upon seeing this:

"They actually copied our entire developer application form, I realized that because I was thinking, man they really wrote these like how I would talk in real life, it’s because I came up with all the wording and they just copied them verbatim…….well, they swapped out “cup of joe” for “cup of coffee”. This is highly upsetting"

[david_w]

You have IP rights around your video and copy but you're not in the business of selling videos and copy. You have X amount of dollars, Y amount of time- how much of that do you want to spend on pursuing the outrageous behavior of psychopaths, which itself is an unlimited resource?

You have to deliver a level of excellence which distinguishes you from all other entrants, including these unworthies. Supposedly you know how you're going to do that in a way which is defensible or at least very hard to duplicate. That implies there's something like a wicked problem at the heart of your business model which you know how to solve or you can deal with better than anyone else.

Failing that you're a commodity.

[gitgud]

Always great to know someone thought it was worth trying to copy. Take it as a form of flattery and move on.

Focus on things they can't copy, like revenue and customer satisfaction

[jamil7]

Just treat it as more validation of your idea. Don't get too involved and focus on your own business.