Why Snapchat, Uber and your app can’t be saved by intellectual property laws
Imagine this: It’s the 21st century and the Mona Lisa is no longer the breadwinner of the da Vinci family. In fact, da Vinci is completely irrelevant. He lost his market share in The Louvre, and you’ll never believe who took his place. It’s a new painter who is being hailed as brilliant — a man who painted a painting of the Mona Lisa.
The situation isn’t as ridiculous as it may seem. This is reality in the digital world. Originals are no longer worth $100 million. Or maybe they are. In that case, the copycats may be worth $100 million more.
For the past year, the digital world has been inundated with copycat claims, yet few solid actions against this behavior have risen or succeeded. Instagram copied Snapchat with its Stories feature, and unapologetically admitted it. Lyft and Uber continue trying to one-up the other, and end up executing the exact same features.
So what differentiates legal and ethical issues, and how do you protect your ideas? Here’s how you can distinguish between your intellectual property rights, what’s unprotected and the gray area in between:
Intellectual property laws
Protecting your app through copyrights and trademarks is essential for every startup. Copyright will protect your authored work. This includes your copy (as you may expect), your code and more original works that you have actually produced. Trademark will protect your identity. This includes your name, your slogan and more distinguishable parts of your brand.
Essentially, these intellectual property laws ensure no one else will be exactly the same.
Why anyone can copy Snapchat and rideshare platforms
When Instagram Stories arrived, Snapchat growingly became a sort of gimmick that a mini donut maker serves as: a one-trick pony that’s more fun, but less practical. It was convenient for one hot commodity — disappearing posts — and less convenient when it came to reducing clutter. If users could stay on one app to get the best of snaps and permanent memories, why wouldn’t they?
Snapchat’s increasing decline is made possible by one major catch in protections: Intellectual property laws do not protect ideas.
Instagram (and Facebook) would have legally been in the wrong had they copied code, or even if they had expressed Stories in the same manner as Snapchat. Instead, they marketed Stories in a way that attracted beautiful temporary statuses (often parent appropriate, nonetheless) and built the feature on their own, filters and all.
Uber and Lyft are similarly competing with virtually the same features for riders and drivers, down to vehicle options, rates and tips. They shamelessly steal from each other. Their drivers are often the same. Unlike Snapchat and Facebook, even their goals are the same. They share those goals with at least eight other companies.
However, when you enter the Lyft platform, it’s unlikely that you’d mistake the vibrant colors for Uber and its sleek black brand. Comedians wear fake mustaches to hide their identities, Marcel Duchamp put a mustache on Mona Lisa to pioneer readymade art, and Lyft put a mustache on a brand to efficiently disguise an existing product. It’s the same reason why Uber Eats got away with Postmates functions. It all boils down to expression. That, and the fact that modern ideas can’t be patented effectively.
Why you can’t just patent it
Patents are not for the now. They can take years to approve and, if you take our digital landscape as an indicator, your app will quickly differ from the minimum viable product you applied with.
Patents may be an option for larger, more established operations, but for startups, this may mean up to $30,000 wasted on a concept that you’re no longer honing in on, and others are far past. That’s just the start of a handful of reasons why patents may not be the best choice, and certainly are not the easiest mode of protection. Once again: Ideas cannot be patented.
What this means for your app
Take it from our childhood rhymes: First is the worst. Second is the best. Third is the one with the treasure chest.
Your idea may be the first in the app store, but it’s quite possible that you won’t be the only one to think of it independently. The next companies to create an app from the same idea may take note of your successes, and they may better avoid your failures.
This shows the importance of constant innovation to continuously better the user experience. It also proves why non-disclosure agreements are not always the best route: People don’t need to hear your idea to have it, but you can’t maximize your support and resources without telling as many people as possible.
But there is a big positive for app innovators to take away. You can take inspiration from other creators, as long as you come to the conclusion through an original route. As you develop through inspiration, we remind you: Don’t always think legally. Think ethically, too.
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