Sorry, creating a throwaway account for this since I mostly lurk on HN.
The code used to build Datanyze was stolen from a pre-existing internal tool Ilya was hired to work on at his previous company. All of the original UI looked exactly the same, it tracked all the same services, and the domain was registered while he was still an employee.
Hello, everyone. Founder of Datanyze here. I just wanted to respond to this comment as I did not notice it until recently. This throw-away account was wisely created to avoid a libel counter-lawsuit. Torbit indeed tried to sue me and the company...unsuccessfully. Their accusations were ridiculous from the beginning and my position was very open at all times. I offered them to do a code comparison or anything else it would take to prove that I did not steal any of Torbit's IP. Datanyze was written using a totally different set of tools. They refused and kept throwing money into the lawsuit. Torbit was basically claiming that they invented web crawling and predictably failed. The judge has made his decision, but some (not all) of Torbit's investors and employees keep trolling using these 'throwaway' accounts.
Interesting story. It seems the case went to arbitration due to a clause in the Ilya Semin employment contract and thus out of the light of regular courts:
Comments
Sorry, creating a throwaway account for this since I mostly lurk on HN.
The code used to build Datanyze was stolen from a pre-existing internal tool Ilya was hired to work on at his previous company. All of the original UI looked exactly the same, it tracked all the same services, and the domain was registered while he was still an employee.
A lawsuit was filed, but was dropped because the company was working on closing an acquisition anyway. (http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/other-statutory-actions/c...)
Just wanted to get this out there so people know they are supporting blatant IP theft.
Hello, everyone. Founder of Datanyze here. I just wanted to respond to this comment as I did not notice it until recently. This throw-away account was wisely created to avoid a libel counter-lawsuit. Torbit indeed tried to sue me and the company...unsuccessfully. Their accusations were ridiculous from the beginning and my position was very open at all times. I offered them to do a code comparison or anything else it would take to prove that I did not steal any of Torbit's IP. Datanyze was written using a totally different set of tools. They refused and kept throwing money into the lawsuit. Torbit was basically claiming that they invented web crawling and predictably failed. The judge has made his decision, but some (not all) of Torbit's investors and employees keep trolling using these 'throwaway' accounts.
Interesting story. It seems the case went to arbitration due to a clause in the Ilya Semin employment contract and thus out of the light of regular courts:
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/5:2012cv0...
IP theft? Is that like BGP hijacking?
IP = intellectual property
I thought he looked like a gangster.