the fear for us isn't so much that we have existing plans they'd be overlapping, it's that a year or two from now we could come up with a vaguely similar concep

the fear for us isn't so much that we have existing plans they'd be overlapping, it's that a year or two from now we could come up with a vaguely similar concept, can't get in touch with them to get their express consent, and then we actually build it. Even though they never followed through on their plans, we could be culpable for "stealing the idea", even if we've forgotten what their idea was.