Bad to the Bone - Part 2

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

When one uses this phrase to describe someone, they usually are referring to a positive attribute, typically work ethic. 

Of course, this also breeds copycats.  In sports, it causes imitation.  What was successful for a time becomes copied until it no longer works anymore.  In American Football, the Miami Dolphins unveiled the Wildcat offense which was trendy for a couple of years.  Currently, the read-option has become that trend.

In the business world, this can have more serious consequences than it can in sports.  Ask Rolex if they like people copying their design for watches.  This problem, along with counterfeiting, have created a niche industry of copyrights, patents, and the enforcement of such laws.  Some even say that this is a world-wide problem.

So how does it affect us bot owners? 

Suppose I own a bot chain Bot1, Bot 2, Bot 3 and Bot 4.  I am happily making a healthy profit on my chain and am satisfied.  Now suppose someone comes along with Bot5, Bot6, Bot7 and Bot8.  The confusion is going to cause me to lose business.  As you can imagine, I will not be too pleased about this.

So what can I do about this?

WotC probably will not do anything about it.  They will not step in because nothing was done to violate their Terms of Service.  They won’t get involved in a bot spat and this would set a bad precedence.  WotC has very little to gain by interfering and a lot to lose.  So I suspect they would not get involved.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t purchase Bot5, Bot6 and so on for your purposes.  If nothing else, they can be used for future expansion of your bot empire.  Even if you never use those accounts, just having those accounts means no one else can have them, preserving your integrity and reputation.  You can even use these accounts as mules, a place to put inventory while transferring from one bot to another, or when purchasing a collection.