

Ask HN: I have a pretty good idea, but don't want to patent it - dutchbrit

Like a lot of people here on HN, I'm very much against software patents. I have a pretty good idea (or so I think), but don't want to go and patent it. I want others to use my idea without restrictions.<p>My main question is, how can I stop someone from stealing my idea, requesting a patent and then force others to pay a license fee to use this idea?!?
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skrebbel
A commonly repeated opinion in startupland is that an idea alone isn't worth
very much, and it all comes down to execution.

Jeff Atwood has a nice writeup on
[http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/01/cultivate-teams-
not...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/01/cultivate-teams-not-
ideas.html)

Also, for the cost of an EU+US patent you can probably make a very good start
on the actual product, beating your ripoffers by time instead of court.

To avoid _someone else_ patenting it, prove that you had the idea before their
patent was filed. I've heard of people doing this by writing it down in a
letter and mailing it to themselves. The postal stamp works as a date.

Better, however, is to ditch stealth mode altogether, start blogging from the
start. This may get you copycats, but probably also customers.

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dutchbrit
Well, it's not an actual product, it's a method to do something faster. I want
to develop a demo and publish it on my blog, but want the idea to remain free.

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samwillis
Simply publishing it on your blog describing how it works will stop it being
patented as it will be the Prior Art. If you develop any code for you demo you
can than choose to license that code under an open source license, BSD if you
don't mind people selling something built with your code and GPL if you want
anything people make with your code to remain free.

It is worth reading up about all the different licenses to get an idea of
which one most closely matches your ideals.

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dutchbrit
Thanks!

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ig1
You just need to publish it publicly to establish prior art.

See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_art>

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genwin
This, but keep in mind that if you reveal how it works or it's obvious how
it's working you'll open _yourself_ up to patent trolls, who will almost
always have an earlier patent similar or broad enough to sell to a jury.
Sometimes it's best to keep the idea a trade secret.

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dear
How much does a patent process typically cost?

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shail
Patent it and never charge anyone for it :).

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dutchbrit
But that will cost me money ;-)

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dear
Then license it to recover the costs.

