Yes,but not immediately, the initial reaction of the perpetrator was to defend the decision on twitter, thats what happens when you attack someone, they go on the defensive...
..but that same objective could have been achieved privately. A nice email from the victim stating that they see they copied their design and would greatly appreciate them changing it ASAP...would have likely yielded a quicker and cleaner result.
Regardless, my initial comment was less addressed to the victim here, but rather to the HN community for pouncing all over it.
I don't disagree that people get weird about YC companies here, but let's be honest: YC can take it. This startup can take it. A week of bad publicity is a minimal amount of adversity compared to what they'll endure in the future, and there were a few lessons they needed to learn. What we're seeing isn't some kind of lynch mob, it's a few people shooting the breeze on the internet.
More importantly, I think the notion that a victim - a real victim, making a truthful accusation - is obligated to remain silent is very badly thought out.
