Google launched and showed off an example application that rips Campfire's look and feel off. As for whether it was a "pioneering new chat interface," that is hardly the point where ripping off design is concerned.
It's just like ripping off the layout and visual appearance of a designer's portfolio web site. There is nothing pioneering or innovative about the way designers make web sites to display their work, but there is design in the chocies they make and there is value in those choices.
If design doesn't matter, Google could and should show a chat application with a completely different look. If design does matter, then they are executing a blatant rip off.
Is it illegal? Wrong? Lame? You can decide for yourself. But it is still a rip off.
update: This is my last word on the subject. But I will say the following: there is a very well-known standard of "obviousness": The Clean Room.
Perhaps this application was made in a clean room, or something close enough: if the people making it weren't familiar with Campfire and arrived at almost the identical design from first principles, then of couse I am happy to withdraw my statement and accept that the design in "obvious."
Perhaps they have already spoken up and assured the world that it is just a coincidence that their app is so similar to Campfire. But I am not convinced that a particular design is "obvious" if it is executed by someone who studied another design first.
It's just like ripping off the layout and visual appearance of a designer's portfolio web site. There is nothing pioneering or innovative about the way designers make web sites to display their work, but there is design in the chocies they make and there is value in those choices.
If design doesn't matter, Google could and should show a chat application with a completely different look. If design does matter, then they are executing a blatant rip off.
Is it illegal? Wrong? Lame? You can decide for yourself. But it is still a rip off.
update: This is my last word on the subject. But I will say the following: there is a very well-known standard of "obviousness": The Clean Room.
Perhaps this application was made in a clean room, or something close enough: if the people making it weren't familiar with Campfire and arrived at almost the identical design from first principles, then of couse I am happy to withdraw my statement and accept that the design in "obvious."
Perhaps they have already spoken up and assured the world that it is just a coincidence that their app is so similar to Campfire. But I am not convinced that a particular design is "obvious" if it is executed by someone who studied another design first.