My simple answer to
“How can I protect my Open Source project from being ripped off?”
would have been:
“You can’t. If you want to make sure, that “others don’t rip off your product”, why do you want to be Open Source?” - No. You should design it in a way that it is a good thing for you if it happens."
And then I would link to the video series about Open Source Business Models for Circular Economy. (Which would of course only make sense if the videos were already online - what will happen in the coming days.)