
How do people protect their startup ideas if you can't afford a patent? (Facebook vs ConnectU) - abarrera

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epi0Bauqu
First and foremost, trade secrets and trust. Don't tell anyone you don't
trust. I know that sounds lame, but it is true if you are serious about
protecting a secret. It is better to prevent the action in the first place
than having to deal with litigation. Trade secrets are enforceable in court,
though you basically have to be trying to keep them secret, prove it was
secret, etc.

So that effectively means beyond just keeping it secret, it's all about
contracts. NDAs, non-competes, etc. You can sign your rights away to almost
anything in a contract, though non-competes are notoriously weak in
California.

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samb
Patents only allow you to sue people later. The main barrier to entry for most
folks is attention span. If you're really worried about it, you should get the
contracts, etc. mentioned by others.

We've used contracts once in the past 2 years. And that was only because we
were recently went open kimono on the technology side for a potential
acquirer.

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abarrera
Do you use special confidentiality clauses? Some example I can see? If so, do
you need to specify you ideas thoroughly?

If you where in ConnectU's position, how could you had avoided Mark copying
the idea?

Can you really avoid it?

