I think that small startups should ignore patents altogether. They cost a lot, detract from your mission (coding) and provide very little.
You will not have the resources to prosecute should someone
use the patent to steal your idea.
The patent will provide no defense for someone else claiming that you infringed on theirs. You won't have the $ to mount a defense anyway.
Worse still, the fact that you considered patents may give an aversary the ability to claim triple damages by implying that because you were "patent aware" you must have willfully infringed.
Just file copyrights on your code as proof you were there first and leave patents to the MS's and Google's of the world. Use your time and effort to build your product.
You will not have the resources to prosecute should someone use the patent to steal your idea.
The patent will provide no defense for someone else claiming that you infringed on theirs. You won't have the $ to mount a defense anyway.
Worse still, the fact that you considered patents may give an aversary the ability to claim triple damages by implying that because you were "patent aware" you must have willfully infringed.
Just file copyrights on your code as proof you were there first and leave patents to the MS's and Google's of the world. Use your time and effort to build your product.
I'm not an expert of any kind, just my 2 cents.