I see this as some sort of competition, and in the end, this kind of activity benefits the users and adopters, and bitcoin as a whole (community, coin, protocol, etc.)

I think the OP is ... like those things that happen in science, developed independently, or discovered separately, the same or similar thing.

I remember creating my first design for a steam engine, then when I showed it to my older brother, he asked me if I just copied that from the encyclopedia. The design was original, but it was similar to an existing design invented 50 years ago. I was just a kid then, and there was no internet yet.

I've stopped creating new stuff, but I've gotten pretty good at searches. If there's something new out there, or something I don't know yet, I'm quite sure it can be found.