If your mousetrap's very easy to copy maybe your mousetrap isn't good to begin with.

Patents, design patents, trademarks, and trade dress are all completely reasonable ways to protect your product. Failing the ability of any of those methods to product your product, I'd argue copying is fair game.

Sometimes better is defined as [more colors|more available|lower price|supports my phone].

So it is competition, for sure!

A mousetrap is still a mousetrap, though. They didn't copy the Air Pods, you should be able to see the differences for yourself if you just look at the product pages. Can you honestly not?

not in applied capitalism, no. ever wonder why there are three gas stations at a four-way intersection? Because someone saw two gas stations there, and said to themselves, "I want a piece of that action."

There isn't a strict motive to make something better than someone else .... there's only a motive to make something that someone will buy instead of something else. Big difference.