
Ask HN: Protecting open-source based commercial software? - stevemk14ebr
My team and I have created a product that is based on a few existing open source technologies. The value is in the system as a whole, the infrastructure we built around these tools, and how we&#x27;ve made them interact with one another, not to mention backend. Since we are primarily open source based I am worried that someone could come along, see our &quot;big idea&quot; for how these tools can interact, and then clone us. How do i protect my (future) company and my idea in a situation like this? Does a patent even make sense?
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gus_massa
What is the license of the original projects? GPL, LPL, Apache, MIT, BSD,
other?

Does your software run in your server or the users have to download it to run
it in theirs computers?

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matt_the_bass
Unless you have deep coffers and are willing/able to litigate, my opinion is
that patents are of little value in terms of preventing copying. Ianal.

