[prehnra]

Sure. Think about how this works outside of the internet. The fact that we have multiple grocery stores, clothing stores, hardware stores, etc means that someone is copying someone else's idea. There is this mythology in certain corners of the startup community around ideas-- all you need is a great idea, you should keep your idea secret, etc. The truth is every company is copied and most "new" ideas are just combinations of two or more existing ideas.

So go for it. The question is really whether your market intuition is right and customers are really looking for a cheaper, simpler execution of this idea.