

Ask HN: Anybody putting IP offshore to protect against patent issues? - trussi

It's a rite of passage for a tech startup to get sued.  It means your doing something right.<p>However, I think you can hold your IP in an offshore company that would be significantly difficult for US jurisdiction to touch.<p>Is anybody using this strategy to avoid IP related litigation?<p>If so, what countries are you using to hold your IP?<p>Any specific precautions you are using to ensure the protections are enforceable?
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hmahncke
How would this work? You would be sued in the US, as that is where your
product would be (supposedly) violating the other party's patent. Where your
IP is doesn't matter.

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trussi
Where your IP 'lives' matters entirely!

If a Swedish company owns the IP and the IP is on servers there, US courts
can't touch it.

How can a US court have any jurisdiction on a corporation or a data center in
another country? I think it would pretty difficult for a US court to exercise
authority over another country's legal system.

The only option the plaintiff would have is to take legal action in whatever
country the IP was located in (i.e. they'd have to sue in Sweden).

If you pick a country that doesn't respect US trademarks or patents, then the
plaintiff wouldn't have a case.

Even if they might have a case, picking a small, remote country would
substantially increase their legal costs, which would deter them from pursuing
legal action.

With all the patent BS going on now, this seems to me like it's a viable
option to reduce risk.

I just want to hear from somebody who understands this ownership/operational
structure and has (or has not) decided to implement it.

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hmahncke
If you are a Swedish company, and your file patents in Sweden, and then you
sell a product in the US, a company can file a patent infringement suit in the
US saying that your product infringes on their US patent. Your Swedish patents
aren't relevant. The fact that you are selling your product in the US matters.

How this might apply to a SaaS company is an interesting question. If all the
business is legally conducted in Sweden, perhaps there would be no US IP
issues. But if any portion of the business in conducted in the US, that
portion can be shut down if their is a patent issue in the US.

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trussi
Good point. My brain is hardwired to think product == SaaS product. So I'm
only referring to using this strategy for a SaaS product.

I think it works with a SaaS product, assuming you keep all business related
stuff (Domain registration, servers, business incorporation, bank accounts,
etc) in another country (i.e. Sweden).

I just don't know which countries would be best...

