In another post in HN comments, he stated that their users were confused about the two different icons. That seems to be more the reason that they are changing their icons.

Who are these users? HipChat users who consciously downloaded the Messages beta?

Where was the part where they created controversy? They stated that several of their users noticed the similarity. Article just states that it could create confusion for users, nothing more.

Do I think they copied us? Probably not (but as a designer, I’ll take the compliment).

"I am not saying the man is beating his wife, but (...)" is to perpetuate the idea instead of just plainly saying "I don't think they copied us". It reads like something out of an antagonistic lawyer from a procedural TV show. We need a Spock take on this.

My comment was a response to the original title of the submission, which read something along the lines of "HipChat comment on Apple logo plagiarism rumours" or something to that effect more so than the post itself.

That's the controversy. I can just see how lesser knowledgeable journalist will get this wrong.

It's not a press release, it's a blog post, on the company's blog, about why that company is changing its logo. It's not written for journalists in the first place.

or "HiipChat points out controversial move that noone knows but now that I found out about HipChat and this move I won't use it now"