But ya, Ill read that whitepaper carefully.
Yes, the Bitcoin competition will hear something and then they will run with it. Someone would mention that an ideal implementation for the Lightning Network might be a Hub and spoke model < The spoke-hub distribution paradigm is a form of transport topology optimization in which traffic routes are organized as a series of 'spokes' that connect outlying points to a central 'hub.'> and then people will think that it is the only way that the Lightning Network would be able to run.
Most people forget that people can still open direct channels with other people or merchants, so it is not the only way to implement this.