

Ask HN: What Kinds of Intellectual Property Can a Software Business Have? - api

I&#x27;m doing research on fund raising, and I keep running into comments about how investors like defensible IP -- for reasons that are obvious.<p>Nevertheless, software patents suck. Not only are they somewhat questionable from a legal and even ethical point of view, but they&#x27;re very hard to enforce and license unless you&#x27;re a NPE (troll)... and that recently got harder (yay).<p>What kinds of defensible IP can a software or SaaS business have that would be of any interest to investors?<p>Closed source software is the obvious answer, but I&#x27;m wondering if there might be other more clever ones. Software can be duplicated, especially if its techniques are not utter black magic. Trade marks and brand equity are also obvious.<p>Is there anything else? Are there patent, trade mark, or copyright strategies that people use that might not be obvious to someone not in on the tricks of the trade?
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patio11
_What kinds of defensible IP can a software or SaaS business have that would
be of any interest to investors?_

A repeatable process for acquiring customers, as demonstrated by success
actually implementing it. Most SaaS businesses don't have "secret sauce."

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api
Would that fit under the wider heading of trade secrets? Interesting... hadn't
thought of business process trade secrets, but that's a whole category I
suppose.

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alain94040
I think Patrick was being ironic. People who tell you VCs like defensible IP
don't really know what they are talking about. VCs _really_ like companies
that are taking off in terms of traction. That has nothing to do with
defensible IP.

