
The Top Five Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Learn About IP Law - hjw3001
http://www.iplawforstartups.com/the-top-five-reasons-entrepreneurs-should-learn-about-ip-law/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IPLawForStartups+%28IP+Law+For+Startups+by+Jill+Hubbard+Bowman%29
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kkowalczyk
Here's the problem: the law of quickly diminishing returns.

Recently I've tried to "learn more" about one specific IP issue: what are the
rules for Intellectual Property developed while being employed by someone but
outside of work and not using employer's equipment?

I've read very informative discussion on
<http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422>, including authoritative-
sounding response from Joel Spolsky and frankly, I don't think that in terms
of knowledge I can act on with confidence about what the final outcome will
be, I'm any smarter than I was before I've read it.

The bottom line seems to be: technically the company that employs me owns any
IP I do during employment but if you're lucky you're not going to be sued.

And that seems to apply more generically: in most cases you can use your
common sense (don't use other people's trademarks, don't write code for your
future company at your current workplace etc.) but when things get
contentious, it's anyone's guess what the final outcome will be.

I've got code to write and the time spent reading books on IP law (which is
part of the advice that this article gives) is time not spent writing
software.

What I need is not a book or 50 blog posts but a "1 day guide" to the most
important issues which provides bottom-line advice and not only "this is what
theoretically might happen" but "this is how it usually works out" (e.g. in
the context of "who owns the IP developed during employment" the theoretical
advice is "employer, so don't even think about bootstrapping your startup in
your free time" but practical advice is "technically employer, but it's
virtually unheard of employers suing ex-employees and many do it, so keep
things quiet and bootstrap anyway").

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joe_the_user
I can't remember where, but I believe I heard a Linus Torvald quote to the
effect that open source developers should _not_ research potential patent
infringement for applications they're developing.

I would boldly extend this to the claim that no should 'learn about ip' while
they are developing. IP is essentially protection racket. Sure you can learn a
little bit of the dance but it won't unless you're on of the 'big boys'. In
the end, there's no great difference between between a patent troll and a
corporation seen as having 'legitimate ip'. IP rackets resemble _states_ in
the sense that they are gangs trying to suck the fattest t __t they can find.

The best strategy isn't to "know what's legal" but to _avoid attention_ `till
you're big enough to kick the snot out of these bandits.

IP mavens are [INSERT SOCIALLY DIMINISHING ADJECTIVE HERE].

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hoag
I realize I'm a bit biased with my comment, but frankly, I think law school is
great for any entrepreneur. In fact, I attended law school specifically
because I wanted to return to startup world. The analysis methods taught in
law school are invaluable to life as an entrepreneur. That I now have an
understanding of the law is a pretty cool bonus.

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Rariel
Very important. As a lawyer and startup founder I find it really interesting
that IP law isn't mentioned more on blogs/hacker sites/ etc because it is very
important, especially the TM aspect. Perhaps it's because most startups fail
or never get big enough to run in to these issues?

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alain94040
As someone who has tried to educate new entrepreneurs about IP, I can tell you
it's really hard to get the message across. By default, new founders just have
no idea that IP matters at all. They understand moral principles like
"stealing is bad", but they are clueless about licenses, patents, copyright
and trademarks. It takes at least 2 hours of a pretty intense discussion to
get them to even remotely open their eyes.

And in practice, does it really matter? Look at YouTube, they cheated to get
started, and no one seems to care. Better cheat and win than play by the
rules.

~~~
printerjam
The new entrepreneurs you deal with, have they worked in other startups before
or are they really young?

The first thing I did with my company was hire a lawyer. This is the first
company I've personally started, but not my first startup. So my question
above has to do with the experience level of the folks to whom you are
preaching. To me, getting incorporated correctly, trademark searches, etc. was
extremely important and well worth the money I paid.

