Innovate Past Copycats
Redirect copycat monitoring into the next product customers want
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
When copycats appear, begin with a practical assessment of enforceable rights, cost, and likely impact rather than reacting indefinitely. Secure the protections the business can reasonably obtain, but track the opportunity cost of searching for copies, sending demands, and pursuing expensive disputes. If imitation will continue despite those efforts, deliberately redirect the team's time toward new products and brand improvements. The mechanism is a shift from defending a static advantage to repeatedly creating the next advantage: imitators remain behind because they reproduce what already exists, while the originating brand keeps moving. Erin described this as the turning point after Triangl spent its days confronting copies instead of developing anything new.
Origin
Erin Deering described how Triangl responded after its manufacturer and major swimwear brands copied its products. Extracted from The Foundr Podcast.
Core principles
- 01Legal escalation can consume the energy needed to create
- 02Copying proves imitation, not an ability to originate
- 03Customers may still prefer the original brand
- 04Continual creation makes a static copy less relevant
How to run it
- 1
Assess the threat
Identify where the copy is sold, which rights are protected, and whether it materially reaches your customers.
Pro tip Separate emotionally upsetting imitation from commercially damaging infringement.
Watch out Do not assume every copy warrants the same response.
- 2
Secure practical protection
Register the brand in the markets that matter and take proportionate action where it can help.
Pro tip Protect key names early when resources allow.
Watch out An open-ended legal fight can become more expensive than the commercial harm.
- 3
Audit the distraction
Review how much time the team spends finding copies, escalating disputes, and worrying about competitors instead of creating.
Pro tip Compare that effort with the next product or improvement it is delaying.
Watch out Constant monitoring can make defence feel productive while innovation stalls.
- 4
Return to creation
Put the team back on new products, better execution, and changes that move the brand beyond the copied offer.
Pro tip Use the originator's product knowledge as the advantage imitators lack.
- 5
Keep moving
Repeat the creation cycle so competitors are continually copying an older version of the brand.
Pro tip Preserve the cues that help customers recognise the original.
Watch out Do not abandon a proven product solely because copies exist.
In the wild
Triangl first reacted aggressively when its manufacturer and larger swimwear brands copied its designs. The founders explored legal action and spent late nights tracking imitations, but concluded that copying would continue. They protected the name where they could, changed manufacturer, and redirected their time toward new products rather than allowing enforcement to consume their days.
→ Erin said the copycats eventually went away while Triangl continued creating and selling the original brand.
Common mistakes
Treating every copy as a legal war
Escalation can absorb money and attention without stopping persistent imitation.
Monitoring instead of making
Searching for every copy feels defensive but can displace the product work that sustains an original brand.
Abandoning what customers still want
Copies do not automatically remove demand for the original, so keep serving customers while developing what comes next.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for original consumer brands facing persistent imitation that legal action is unlikely to eliminate.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when a focused legal action can quickly prevent material harm or recover essential rights.
From the transcript
“what we have to do as a brand is innovate step keep pushing forward”
“we were spending our days doing that as opposed to creating anything new”
From the episode
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