Ask HN: My browser extension is cloned. Will the Code Copyright help?

[saradhi]

I'm the creator of a Chrome extension with 4.7 stars for 500+ ratings. It is one of Google's favorites of 2022. I noticed a company cloned my code (even though I published the uglified version) and published their version of the extension (they are struggling to bring users though).

I have reached out to the company that cloned, they are demanding the data and a monthly fee to remove their extension.

I am now considering to Copyright my code and its derivatives to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Is this recommended? Anything else I should take care?

Is there any way I can report this to the Google team and take the other one down?

[h2odragon]

Your "copy right", literally the right to determine who is allowed to copy your work, is intrinsic. Unless you explicitly chose to release your code under some terms that allow copying, "copyright law" should serve you in this case.

If you just chose to use a "LICENSE" file without looking at it when you released, you might've given them permission to do this. Double check that first.

[saradhi]

That's not the case. There is no LICENSE file in my published extension

[verdverm]

You have to enforce a copyright, or any other license, contract, or TOS.

It's up to you (and a lawyer) to decide if & how to attempt to enforce it. Either way, it's going to cost you money, though going to court may enable you to recover these funds. DMCA may be another approach you can consider. Many times a letter from a lawyer is enough, although if they are not having any success, why bother?

[navjack27]

Expect more copies