u/Mountain-Science4526, thank you for sharing this story! Those who try to advocate “it’s not just the idea” make this story worse—they stole the idea and tried to abuse those who already have patents. Those without IPs are in a far more sensitive position.

And these stories slow down the progress enormously.

I’d be happy to hear the name of the VC and/or the company.

I’m in a situation where we don’t have IPs, and technology has been out there for decades but has never been used in a combination we intend to. The only way to prevent stealing on pre-seed/seed stages like ours that is on my mind is to MOVE FAST to stake out the position on the market.

You’re missing that they had to fight for the protected idea. This means those who don’t have money on IPs or are close to IPs are even more vulnerable.