My new SAAS product is a month or two from launch, and I've had a temporary (trademark approved) site up for a long time, and announced it publicly at a conference in January to potential customers & collaborators). A competitor just popped up with a suspiciously similarly constructed product, but without my background in the content area. A content provider on his site is well-known to me, and I had offered to speak on the subject of my product at his seminars. I foolishly wrote the content provider, not realizing he was more than a contributor--he was THE expert on the site. Within days I saw the competitor's site shift to copy my own product position even further. I've taken down the temporary site and am focusing on getting my far better product out. My concern: he could potentially accuse ME of copying him, since he's already launched (an incomplete product, but his game was clearly to beat me out the door.) My choices: 1. Send a note staking out my territory to preempt him and make him think twice about copying me further when I launch (the years I've spent in development, the public announcement in January. 2. Just ignore him and move on.
Thanks--I saw a similar question so thought this might be appropriate here.
