What if curebit copied highrise's product - not the design mind you, but the core functionality of the product - and used a completely different, original design to dress up the product? Would you throw a similar tantrum?
This is something that's always perplexed me. Companies copy other companies' business models and compete for the same customers all the time, but that's considered fair game. But if a design is copied, shit hits the fan.
Frankly, I'd rather someone copy my design and go after a diff niche of customers than copy my product and come after my customers.
To the guys at Curebit - ignore this noise. The focus should be on creating an awesome product, getting paying customers and generating profits. You guys have an awesome product and deserve the funding. Congrats :)
P.S. You should remove the hotlinks tho. No need to use their bandwidth.
First: it's the law. Copyright covers "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium". It expressly does not cover "procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery". http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/102.html
Second: if curebit used Highrise code verbatim in their product, I bet hell yes there would be tantrum about it.
Wait, so are you saying that we should be more outraged when business models and customers are stolen in a borderline illegal way? This is a valid point and we probably should be more outraged.
Or are you saying that it should be ok to rip off someone's design and hotlink to their assets?
Wait, do you think that there aren't already 10s, maybe even a 100+ products out there with the same basic functionality as Highrise? Because there are. There were before Highrise, and now, after. There are more every year.
The concept of a CRM is not something you can "copy" because it simply exists. And most web-based software works in roughly the same way. So far, most 37signals products have very few truly unique features, because their focus is on simplicity and less software.
Accordingly, 37signals doesn't care if somebody launches a new CRM.
They also don't seem to care when live chat apps like Hipchat have one or two features that 37signals pioneered.
Stealing a design outright, on the other hand, is not growing or improving or adopting a concept (e.g. "contact management that tracks deals", "it should x when you y") but their actual IP.
>Stealing a design outright, on the other hand, is not growing or improving or adopting a concept (e.g. "contact management that tracks deals", "it should x when you y") but their actual IP.
Can you cite legislation within the US, or a successful civil suit?
It’s unlikely Priceonomics could build a massively successful business arbitraging used goods if we have to take possession of them.
Did you consider letting the buyers and sellers do the leg work?
Setup a distribution center. Sellers who want to offload stuff scan the items and their details to you and you give them instant, fair quotes. If they like your offer, they bring the items to your center, and you check to make sure everything is as it was stated.
You put the items, their details and their new prices (with your margin markup) online for buyers to peruse. If interested, they'll come by and pick up whatever they want.
Like an online pawn store w/ local centers, except there's no pawning, just selling & buying.
This sounds more or less like a consignment store and pretty much what the amazon marketplace does, but with the work done by a middle man instead. The question is, would people be willing to put up with the higher price or reduced profit required by adding a middleman, or would someone always undercut you because they were willing to go straight to the consumer? It reminds me of all those "ebay shops" that popped up 5 years ago and just as quickly disappeared, though this could be as much about ebay changing their focus as any business pressures, I don't know enough about it to say.
With a consignment store the model works because you are willing to take the reduced profit to not have to put in the actual leg work it would require. People are also willing to pay the slightly higher prices because consignment tends to be in things like clothes that are difficult to buy online.
Pawn shops make all their money on the interest on the loans. The buying and selling of goods is really the side line lower-profit leader to get people in the door. Most of the items for sale as just items that the owner failed to collect.
There is a world of difference between a straight 2nd hand goods dealer and a pawn shop. Most of that difference is in the profit margin.
This is something that's always perplexed me. Companies copy other companies' business models and compete for the same customers all the time, but that's considered fair game. But if a design is copied, shit hits the fan.
Frankly, I'd rather someone copy my design and go after a diff niche of customers than copy my product and come after my customers.
To the guys at Curebit - ignore this noise. The focus should be on creating an awesome product, getting paying customers and generating profits. You guys have an awesome product and deserve the funding. Congrats :)
P.S. You should remove the hotlinks tho. No need to use their bandwidth.