Did Apple Steal the Messages Icon Design?

There's been some commotion lately about whether or not Apple stole the design for the new Messages app from HipChat. HipChat offers private and secure chat services, which are great for businesses. The apps are different enough that users of HipChat could also use Messages, which means those two icons could sit side by side in the dock. Seeing as they're so similar, that could get confusing.

But did Apple steal the icon? That much is uncertain. Sure, at first glance the Messages icon looks like the HipChat icon, except with different bubble textures, and the white bubble on top of the blue one instead of being behind. But there are more things to consider here than a first glance.

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