

Ask HN: I think my co-founder is freaking out about getting sued. - gitgo

I think have a serious problem with my co-founder and I’m not sure how to handle it. We just launched an adaption{1} of the popular Yo App and we are getting lots of downloads. But now, he is freaking out about getting sued for using a similar name and layout as the Yo app.
Mostly he is worried about having Yo in the app title, which I don’t see any problem with. However, now he changed the app title in our play store account a second time without telling me so in response, I blocked his access.<p>His main argument for not using Yo in our name, is that we shouldn’t be gaining traction from what others have built. However, I think tries to make up arguments why we should change the name. Also, in my opinion our app is significantly different to Yo and he is simply getting worked up about us getting sued for copyright infringement or intellectual property theft.<p>Moreover, having yo in the name is crucial for our app to gain traction as it communicates to people that they can do “one-word” communication to their friends similar to Yo, just in a bit of a different way.<p>I think my question is, is there any way we could get sued realistically? The thing is that we’re in German jurisdiction, so there is not much anyone can sue us about outside of Germany and if it goes through, it would take a year or so, wouldn’t it?<p>{1} https:&#x2F;&#x2F;play.google.com&#x2F;store&#x2F;apps&#x2F;details?id=com.messenger.labs
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moduloo
i think it depends on the terms&conditions of google's playstore. just because
you are german doesnt meant you cant ge sued by american laws, and i know that
german and american laws are quite dirrefent when it comes to compensation
(schadensersatz).

suggestions: delete references to "Yo" from your product-name (name it Jo
instead); "Yo" is a registered trademark; you wouldnt name a chocolate you
created "ritter sport", even if your name was armin ritter

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throwaway420
a) Not a lawyer, but the worst you'd likely get is a cease and desist letter,
not a lawsuit out of the blue. Especially if you're located in another
country.

b) It's ok to have a difference in opinion, but your co-founder should not be
making major product decisions without you. That, to me, would be most
concerning.

c) How should you handle it? Decide on clear roles, and develop the product
further so that there's a clear difference between you and other products.

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ColinWright
Expanding on (c) ...

There will be times when you have a difference of opinion. The person who
specifically and explicitly has control has, indeed, got control. It's the
other person's job to try to convince them. Working together well means taking
the time to listen to concerns, then making a decision. Sometimes that means
changing your mind. This is not a competition between you. Changing your mind
or not changing your mind is neither victory nor loss.

But for every decision, someone should have control, and their job, in part,
is to keep the other person informed. That feeds back to point (b) above.

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sharemywin
I'd be more worried about getting permanately banned from the app store. using
your logic why not put imessage in your title?

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paulhauggis
I'm going create an app called "yo2". Where's my million dollars?

