Why worry about a competitor that can only (try to) keep up with you by copying you? If you continue innovating at a rapid pace, by the time they catch up to what you have now, the distance between you and them will have only gotten bigger.
Reminds me of playing Warcraft II online.
At first, my strategy was to be as small as possible on the map so that maybe I can stay in the shadows long enough to maybe get strong enough to maybe eventually beat my opponent. My play got much, much better when I realized it's better to be strong even if it makes you more visible, because then they're screwed anyway.
Hope you'll forgive the lighthearted analogy.
Big if. Few people or organizations are capable of sustained, on-demand, innovation.
So, yes, if you can pull that off, you're golden anyway.
For example: Friendster was one of the leading social networks back in the day. They dropped the ball and there were 20 other competitors willing to pick the ball up.