
Do you need to worry about IP issues with respect to people testing your service and giving you suggestions? They might be doing so while at work for example. - amichail

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brlewis
No. And please don't use "Intellectual Property" generically unless you know
what you're doing.

Trademarks have nothing to do with your question.

Copyrights have nothing to do with your question.

Patents are always a risk, but you're no more or less liable by knowing it was
someone else's idea. You're only more liable if you know somebody else got a
patent.

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brlewis
Geez, I really didn't mean that to sound as hostile as it came out. I'm nicer
in person, really.

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amichail
If the testing and suggestions are extensive, their employer might argue that
they have some claim to the IP for your startup.

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staunch
An interesting issue but I've never seen any reference to this kind of
problem. I personally wouldn't worry about it. As already pointed out
trademarks/copyrights are unrelated and also patents are for specific
_implementations_ of ideas -- they don't cover broad concepts.

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danielha
Not if you don't credit them as part of the development. If I worked for
BigCo.A and sent in customer feedback to SmallCo.B's new web startup, A has no
claim in IP. If I'm just leaking inside info from A to B, that's another set
of issues altogether.

