In a last-ditch effort to get through to them, I asked that they at least change the parts that look identical. They said they didn’t have time to, but joked that they could hire me to do it.

that's some epic douchebaggery right there.

Sorry to hear that. They can steal your design and even experience to some extent but not the vision and learnings you gained as a result of spending time of your life on Cushion, which in my opinion is a beautifully executed app.

They might have guts to copy but not the resilience to keep going. They will fall as soon as they have risen by copying. May the force be with you.

Just an FYI, the poster isn't the author. You should message Jonnie (@destroytoday) on Twitter if you'd like to show some support.

To the author of this app: I know this sucks, but you should keep in mind it will most likely have zero impact on your life or on your business, unless you let it.

There are countless reasons for an app to fail, but "someone stole my design" is not usually one of them.

Just make sure you establish that you're the original author of the design so they can't make trouble for you (that post is probably a good start), and then move on. 6 months from now you'll think this design sucks anyway.

This recently happend to me too, I build a web design tool for the Mac and some chumps outright stole some of the graphics from my app, it's so blatant, I'm talking pretty much screen grabs!

I outed them on Twitter with comparison screen shots and a few others joined in to point it out. But they didn't care, guess that's just how it goes.

I got over it when I actually used their product, and realised it was crap.

Wow Jonnie, I was in a similar situation and this old story was told to me

Once, there were two authors Foo and Baa. Foo was good at imagination and Baa was good at imitation. Foo once came up with an amazing story and he began writing it down. Baa copied every word sneaking into foo's house. Everyone who saw Baa's work appreciated him more than Foo. Foo found out, but he didn't fret, instead he asked Baa to finish the story along with him in the public.

Only foo knew how the story ends and how to start the sequel.

Similarly people blatantly copy designs, not its philosophies, and that's where things fall apart. Yes they would make money off your design, but it won't last long. Moreover, Users are getting smarter by the day and at some point even they can distinguish good designs and imitations and tend not to use the service (Eg. Tidal, Apple Vs. Samsung Vs. Xiaomi)

You have the philosophy, so be tenacious.

I came along this article and it seems interesting, but I disagree with the dramatic tone the author is using to gain compassion from other readers, going for "rhetorical strategies" to advertise his product and get more traffic. I'm not okay, of course, with people stealing someone else's work, but I have to say the design in question (the one being 'ripped off') is pretty similar to other web applications with minimal styling for the sake cleanness and it can easily be similar to anything else out there.

Sorry to hear this. :( I know you have chosen not to name the imitating company on purpose -- and I respect that -- but this makes it hard for people to judge the extent to which they copied your design.

Although I believe you, it is hard to be objective without the context.

If someone copied your product and you're both in beta, it's a race to the marketplace. You've got to execute some serious customer development and marketing strategies if you want to overcome this debacle. There's a lot more than just the design that can differentiate your product and establish product/market fit. What about your business model? Does a market even exist? What metrics are important to the business? These are things that you can just "copy".

The way I look at inspiration is this: having the ability to copy, and do it well.

Sometimes it indicates that what you've created is worthy of helping others define their own design standards and pushing them further in their skills and thinking. Sometimes it's a blatant slap in the face to steal customers (as Apple vs. Samsung has made us so aware of).

At the end of the day, know that the hard work of not only producing the beauty and detail in your designs, but the solid thinking and rationale that goes behind every building block is something that isn't as easily matched as replicating a few colors or pixels on a screen.

Keep up the good work. Unlike these chaps, you can be proud of your work. :)

On a side note, you guys should read the rest of the Cushion app blog. A lot of great product design iteration thoughts and insightful user experience experiments.

Been trough something similar but this is way over line! Is there nothing you can do to take this further?

In my case I didn't make to much buzz because what was copied want something I had spent to much time on.

Would it be a good call to report them for copying to all the major search engines?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – https://twitter.com/lolseo/status/597787470168793088

If you spend time creating something great, there's always going to be people that will cut corners and copy it. Not much you can do about it unfortunately. I've had some similar issues over the years but I think it also shows that you've created something that people love which is a great thing - http://www.adhamdannaway.com/blog/web-design/imitation-truly-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery