How can somebody steal the Genesis block? So I read on bitcointalk the other day that there was a new coin about to be released (woo hoo right?!) and then they posted that somebody had stolen the genesis block. 

What exactly does that mean?

How does somebody steal a block and what does that mean to the other blocks/block chain or miners?
I assume this is referring to the duckduckcoin launch fiasco.

For pre-mined coins based on the Bitcoin software, the pre-mined coins typically just go to whoever mines the first few blocks. The idea is that you don't open the software up until those blocks are mined. But if you do, and someone else mines those blocks, they get the pre-mine. To protect against this, you must release the software with a checkpoint after the pre-mine. Apparently, somebody forgot to add that checkpoint.