Comment by jjcm
19 days ago
Ex-Figma.
I'd be worried about a lawsuit here, primarily due to the overall app architecture and property panel on the right. While there are differences between your implementation and Figma's, it's close enough that things are very clearly Figma-inspired. There've been a lot of Figma copycats, and Figma does have a track record of successful lawsuits against them.
Great work with the backend architecture (a lack of a proper wasm renderer is why penpot will never be competitive), but you're in dangerous territory with the UI.
Wasn't Figma's side panel just a ripoff of Sketch's? Always felt that way.
Heavily influenced by Sketch's UX for sure. Sketch paved the way for the new wave of design tools. There were some significant architectural differences between the approaches though.
Just for comparison, here's a side by side of each: https://image.non.io/940a433a-3c25-4610-88e8-4eec810f2235.we...
You can apply your own logic here as well.
“While there are differences between Figma’s implementation and Sketch, it's close enough that things are very clearly Sketch-inspired.”
Figma doesn’t have patent on side panels. I don’t think worrying about lawsuits is applicable here.
I’m sure Figma will attempt to abuse its power to kill competition regardless. It’s no different than other corporations.
Likely EU has better regulations.
> I'd be worried about a lawsuit here, primarily due to the overall app architecture and property panel on the right
I wouldn't, because such a lawsuit would trivially get dismissed. There are no intellectual claims to be had on app architecture or the design of a property panel, otherwise the whole industry would be a bloodbath.
> a lack of a proper wasm renderer is why penpot will never be competitive
The Penpot WASM renderer is entering open beta any time now.