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When making an alternative to something, don't reference the name of the thing you're copying if that thing has (or can afford) a legal team to protect their br

When making an alternative to something, don't reference the name of the thing you're copying if that thing has (or can afford) a legal team to protect their brand. If your product can reasonably be confused with the original (it can) they will eat your soul.

qxfys 2y ago
+1
michelsedgh 2y ago
Actually I loved it. I dont think they have any grounds to sue. Its different and close enough. Also they wouldn’t sue a project on github, if they do they show their faces its worse for them. Also many forks will happen and they have to sue many. Worst case you change the name of the repo. Thats the power of open source ;)
- tartrate 2y ago
  Isn't Yuzu a good counter example?
  - freehorse 2y ago
    It does not sound relevant to me, because that was a case of "video game piracy". It was not about the name per se.
  - theturtletalks 2y ago
    Yuzu’s downfall was not the repo, it was their Discord. They were sharing DRM cracking keys on there and getting paid $30K/month on Patreon. It’s the same reason most emulators require you to bring your own BIOS.
iforgotpassword 2y ago
Huh? So reactos shouldn't say they build an alternative to Windows? As long as you build it yourself and don't steal any resources or secrets, there is no problem mentioning that it's an alternative or replacement for another product. What's much more dangerous is picking a name for your own product that resembles the original.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  Wonder how Gitlab survived next to Github then. To first approximation, the names are the same, and so are the products...
  - mihaic 2y ago
    Both of these are built on top of git, an open source project, so Gitlab is not a riff on Github. Perplexica on the other hand seems like a direct reference to Perplexity, not on the concept of being perplexed by something.
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      Isn't "Perplexity" itself a direct reference to a machine learning term that, among other things, is very relevant to large language models, on top of which Perplexity is built?
      - IanCal 2y ago
        That's a far more tenuous link than "gitlab hosts git repos".
    - wrasee 2y ago
      Yet the way git is used is still similar. Both lead with ‘git’ in their name, both append a pithy three letter suffix to ‘git’ that both describe some kind of space where people meet to do stuff. Surely that’s more than just coincidence.
  - jakozaur 2y ago
    The dispute happens only if one party owns the trademark and sends a Cease & Desist letter. Different companies have different approaches to aggression here. Second, it has to prove that it confuses customers (e.g. if you pick ten end users and do tests if they find that confusing). Maybe a sophisticated tech audience is better at finding differences than the general public.
  - digi59404 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
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qxfys 2y ago

michelsedgh 2y ago

Actually I loved it. I dont think they have any grounds to sue. Its different and close enough. Also they wouldn’t sue a project on github, if they do they show their faces its worse for them. Also many forks will happen and they have to sue many. Worst case you change the name of the repo. Thats the power of open source ;)

tartrate 2y ago
Isn't Yuzu a good counter example?
- freehorse 2y ago
  It does not sound relevant to me, because that was a case of "video game piracy". It was not about the name per se.
- theturtletalks 2y ago
  Yuzu’s downfall was not the repo, it was their Discord. They were sharing DRM cracking keys on there and getting paid $30K/month on Patreon. It’s the same reason most emulators require you to bring your own BIOS.

iforgotpassword 2y ago

Huh? So reactos shouldn't say they build an alternative to Windows? As long as you build it yourself and don't steal any resources or secrets, there is no problem mentioning that it's an alternative or replacement for another product. What's much more dangerous is picking a name for your own product that resembles the original.

TeMPOraL 2y ago
Wonder how Gitlab survived next to Github then. To first approximation, the names are the same, and so are the products...
- mihaic 2y ago
  Both of these are built on top of git, an open source project, so Gitlab is not a riff on Github. Perplexica on the other hand seems like a direct reference to Perplexity, not on the concept of being perplexed by something.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Isn't "Perplexity" itself a direct reference to a machine learning term that, among other things, is very relevant to large language models, on top of which Perplexity is built?
    - IanCal 2y ago
      That's a far more tenuous link than "gitlab hosts git repos".
  - wrasee 2y ago
    Yet the way git is used is still similar. Both lead with ‘git’ in their name, both append a pithy three letter suffix to ‘git’ that both describe some kind of space where people meet to do stuff. Surely that’s more than just coincidence.
- jakozaur 2y ago
  The dispute happens only if one party owns the trademark and sends a Cease & Desist letter. Different companies have different approaches to aggression here. Second, it has to prove that it confuses customers (e.g. if you pick ten end users and do tests if they find that confusing). Maybe a sophisticated tech audience is better at finding differences than the general public.
- digi59404 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

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