12
votes
1answer
339 views

There's a troll in my space - now what?

I've spent the last 3 months full-time building an alpha version of a web app, and developing a business plan for it. The alpha version is ready to launch. Recently I've stumbled upon the fact that ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views

Research if patent holder is a troll

I've recently discovered a patent for a product that's in the field of the product I'm working on. The patent itself has zero direct resemblance to the product I'm working on, but there are "early ...
5
votes
4answers
758 views

How Do I Prevent Somone From Stealing My Idea On KickStart

I have a great idea for a new product and I am thinking about launching it on Kickstarter, but I have one major problem. I am afraid that someone will steal my product and/or accuse me of stealing ...
0
votes
2answers
93 views

What things an entrepreneur should get copyrighted before approaching VCs

What things can be copyrighted of a startup before approaching VCs? I have a very fast growing online venture for which I am going to approach VCs. But I want to make sure they can't use my idea and ...
1
vote
2answers
125 views

Am I worrying too much about my IP?

I've spent the better part of the last several years developing a product/algorithm, and although I lack the time/funds to do an exhaustive patent search, I'm 99.99% certain that the algorithm is ...
1
vote
1answer
109 views

App developed in company time has potential to be sold commercially. Need advise

Situation I work on the public sector and have developed a web app for internal use to handle a department's business process. The application has been a success according to its users. Some of the ...
1
vote
1answer
48 views

Does exists shared patents porfolios that a company can contract as insurance?

considering so much articles I've read about the IP scenario today, I was wondering if there exists Patents holder companies that... Have a good patents porfolio (maybe thounsands, in many areas). ...
2
votes
3answers
233 views

I'm afraid someone's patenting my ideas

I had a brainstorming session with a friend a year and a half ago, and a lot of great ideas came out of it. I moved on the ideas, starting a company - our product has been on the market for about 10 ...
2
votes
1answer
215 views

How Should I Deal With Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a subject that has far reaching implications for your business. There are several different types of intellectual property that every business deals with. They include: ...
4
votes
2answers
560 views

How to protect yourself against the unethical business practices of a competitor like Nuance Communications?

I plan on working in the pattern recognition software industry. Some research into this industry led me to read about a company called “Nuance Communication.” According to this techcrunch article, ...
7
votes
2answers
451 views

Intellectual Property Suicide Pill

I'm planning a new software company that will license software to businesses. A lot of R&D will be needed to create the software and indeed, our codebase will be our biggest asset. Unfortunately ...
10
votes
3answers
288 views

How should a startup deal with existing, ambiguous patents?

I've been thinking about a new idea I want to work on. After searching the USPTO, I found that there are many (hundreds) of patents around what I am wanting to work on, with a slew being very similar ...
7
votes
2answers
289 views

Are patents worth investing in?

We have got patents for specific technologies in the past, they cost a lot and the value was not really visable. We often develop specific algorithms for real-time systems and work with a range of ...
1
vote
2answers
187 views

What does IP mean in Digital medium

From my understanding of Paul Graham's Article http://paulgraham.com/msftpatent.html, IP doesn't have much affect on digital products/services. For example, youtube, tinyurl, groupon, kickstarter all ...
1
vote
1answer
446 views

What is the best and least expensive way to trademark and patent your business IP internationally?

I am working on a start-up company to grow to become a big company to compete against some well known, popular, and in some ways powerful companies in the respective industries and markets today. I ...
1
vote
2answers
316 views

How can I determine if someone owns the intellectual property rights to a word game?

I found a really cool word game that I would like to implement as a mobile app, though I don't if anyone owns the right to the concept. I know there are many games out there, such as Poker or ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views

To what extent are algorithms patentable, especially in the US and Europe?

I'd like to use an algorithm that has been published. It's not a must have for me, but would be convenient. The creator might be difficult to contact, but that's obviously not a reason to do the ...
1
vote
3answers
143 views

A question(s) about IP in a 'Web 2.0' startup

I'm laying the groundwork for what might ostensibly be considered a 'Web 2.0' startup. While I think that I might have some protectable IP, I think that these are not necessarily fundamental to the ...
7
votes
10answers
3k views

How do you protect the key features of your product without a patent?

I'm working on improving an old web based product but afraid that my idea will be copied by the bigger players. For example, let's say I build an improved a web-based task management software but ...