[jcoder]

What kind of issue do you have in mind? By all accounts, the functionality or OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and Google’s suite are the same as Microsoft Office. There’s no theft unless they _actually stole intellectual property_

[hatsix]

The commenter is confused, they mean infringing, not theft.

Theft is theft, no reason to get IP law involved.

Infringement can happen without intent. I don't know who would be liable, the open source company with little revenue, or the customers who are just using the software.

[gnarlouse]

Thank you, yes I mean infringement.

Say big Hooli company builds product/platform “A” and charges arm and foot for usage. Having tried the platform I personally find it ridiculous anybody is paying for this because I successfully (lone developer) hack together a trimmed down working clone of the core system *in under a week*. Furthermore, core aspects of Product/Platform “A” are open-source technology, in non trivial ways (like I’m not saying “oh they use YML for config files”, I’m saying “core engine component they’re using is explicitly open source”).

If I decide to open source my clone, am I asking for trouble?

This is all hypothetical, I’m not soliciting actual legal advice.