

Ask HN: Incorporate first, develop later? - gilaniali

With the rise of patent trolls and Lodsys actually filing against developers today, should all developers publish apps through limited-liability businesses or corporations rather than as individuals?<p>So, even if you get sued, you can take existing earnings as dividends and shut the company down without any personal ramifications, change the apps and republish through another company? Will this work?
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JoeCortopassi
I'm actually very curious to hear from someone who has real world experience
in this. $800 a year ( California ) is a big expense for me when I don't have
a finished product, but I would hate to go bankrupt because someone like
Lodsys rained on my parade

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pash
With some exceptions, yes, it will work, so long as you live in a jurisdiction
that allows individuals to trade with limited liability. (The United States
and every member state of the European Union do.)

Limiting liability is the prudent first step in doing business. It boggles the
mind that so many developers never take that step.

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gilaniali
What are the exceptions? Any legal source for your claims that this will work?

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staunch
Not something to worry about unless you know you're working in an area with
known patent trolls ready to pounce.

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gilaniali
I doubt any of the developers being sued by Lodsys knew they were infringing
on these patents.

And there is no sure way to know which small thing is under patent than to
spend hours going through the patent archives or hiring expensive patent
lawyers.

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staunch
Yeah, and something like 7 out of 1 million developers are being threatened by
Loadsys. Exactly my point.

