Both companies end up winning here, for different reasons. OXO is the voice of reason that calmly explains what's what while Quirky looks like the protector who goes to bat for their inventors and community.
To me, Quirky looks like the crazy person who escalates in a big way without even bothering to talk to the supposed wrongdoers. Not someone I want to do business with.
It's a matter of reputation and business for both participants in the squabble, so it's not a waste of time for them. You might have wasted your time reading it and commenting on it (if you didn't find it interesting), but that's your fault. I found it fun to read, so it didn't waste my time.
And you said '...the "design" crowd'. What are your quote marks for? Are you implying they're not actually designers, or are you mocking the idea of product design as a profession, or something else?
It's far more a waste of their time and effort than it is of mine.
Pointless drama like this does not result in new products, it does not result in improvements to existing products, it does not reduce their cost of doing business, and otherwise has no beneficial properties.
Like I said before, even from a marketing perspective, it probably does far more harm than good for both of them.
And I put "design" in quotes because I don't know how else to refer to them. They apparently don't like being called "hipsters", which is the only other word I could think of that would describe them, collectively.
Sadly this has backfired badly - the first I heard of Quirky story was from this post, and I am now unlikely to ever buy one of their products. Oxo on the other hand is an amazing story in the design thinking community, and it is nice to see their rhetoric match their product quality.