

Ask HN: Provisional patents - worth it for a startup? - maxerprise

We're an early-stage enterprise software startup. Although I despite what patent trolls have done to IP, and the hindrance they can cause to innovation... we've still been thinking about filing a couple provisional patents around our technology.<p>Our rationale is that it provides us some protection if we do ever get sued. We were planning on doing a provisional with a little support from patent attorneys we know, and then do a conversion when we get funding.
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sthu11182
Patents are extremely important for a startup generally (especially for
getting funding from VCs). Not sure how much it affects funding in the
software side of things (depending on what you actually do I would guess).
Patents are helpful and provide some protection if you partner up with a
another company and they steal your product (see the recent Cisco case).
Owning a patent is not likely going to help you with a troll. You likely
wouldn't be able to counterclaim infringement since they don't actually do
anything. If you do get sued by an actual company, then a counterclaim of
infringement would be useful for settlement/negotiations.

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noonespecial
Patents provide exactly zero "protection" if you get sued. They provide
exactly zero protection from competitors copying your idea unless you are
prepared to spend huge amounts to litigate them.

Patents will serve you one purpose only. To have something to show to
investors to get funding. Those investors might be (or sell out to) the trolls
you despise.

