Should IF be Shamed to award a pirating work?

It seems to have 2 issues. Stealing in terms of patent law and stealing in the case of the contest.

For the patent it boils down to your independent claims. For example, if you only claim a single camera and don’t claim more than one camera, the other company effectively broke your patent. And it’s completely legal. But that’s why we have lawyers to write them in the first place. And that’s why we have lawyers to interpret the independent claims. Also, since the other company has yet to commercialize their keyboard, it would be pointless to file a claim as there is no revenue to recover to pay your expensive lawyers. Sure, you could sue them on principle, but I hope you have deep pockets.

As for the contest, it is unreasonable to expect the judges to know of every obscure design that may have preceded what they are judging. They cannot possibly know every design, published or unpublished. Have you written them, hopefully in a non-accusatory manner, about the possible copying? With evidence of copying instead of “I sez so”. If not, what’s the point of complaining to an anonymous interawebz board?