• Refurbished Refurbisher
    link
    14 months ago

    I think you misunderstood my point. I’m not talking about the clone companies; I’m talking about the original company who designed the product that was cloned.

    I don’t necessarilly agree with people making money off of unoriginal ideas, but that falls into the camp of copyright infringment instead of stealing since copyright law protects the intellectual property of the company who created the original design. Whether it is considered reverse engineering or not is a whole other legal argument, since reverse engineering is legal in the US.

    Stealing would be if the clone company literally stole the design of the original company and installed ransomware onto their computers so they lose access to that design.

    • Zoolander
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -14 months ago

      I think you misunderstood my point.

      Maybe? If you’re asking how the original companies stay in business when a clone comes along, the answer to that is that many times they don’t. And, as mentioned elsewhere (and maybe even here), if we’re talking about tangible goods, then, in most cases, there are clear differences between the clones and the non-clones. If enough people buy the items from the original maker, then they stay in business. There are plenty of examples where clones popped up in a market and forced the original creator out of business. We’re not talking about “clones” in the sense that they’re close enough. We’re talking about exact duplications. If someone can make an exact copy for less, then the original company would go out of business if no one paid for that product. I don’t know how you could view that as anything but theft.

      Stealing would be if the clone company literally stole the design of the original company and installed ransomware onto their computers so they lose access to that design.

      No, you don’t need the second part. Stealing it would be stealing the design of the other company and selling it. Recreating something is not the same thing as stealing it, as I’ve already stated.