Ring signatures are going to be implemented in V2. I will begin development immediately after I opensource V1.
How do we compete against clones? Can they clone me? I work on this full time. In fact, I've only been at it four months. So far I've implemented DarkSend + X11 + DGW + Masternode payments. Plus, I've agreed to work on this project till at least Jan 2016 full time. So who on earth would invest in a clone?
Well there are a lot of people here who don't really use their brains. What you should try is making some part of the code somehow protected so that they can't get DarkSend or some major feature of DRK. You should be fine after that. What are ring signatures?