article thumbnail

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Software Patents

Startup Professionals Musings

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The good news is that a patent can scare off or at least delay competitors, and as a “rule of thumb” patents can add up to $1M to your startup valuation for investors or M&A exits (merger and acquisition).

Patents 100
article thumbnail

Software Patents Have Become a Startup Nightmare

Startup Professionals Musings

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. This patent holding company has charged infringement and demanded royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years.

Patents 93
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Software Patents are Becoming a Tax on Innovation

Startup Professionals Musings

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. The bad news is that patent trolls can squeeze the lifeblood out of innocent and unsuspecting entrepreneurs, as exemplified by the current mess around Lodsys patent No.

Patents 91
article thumbnail

HyperLoop One's Latest Accuses BamBrogan Of Secrets Plots, Stolen Laptops

socalTECH

HyperLoop One has filed new legal paperwork , which accuses BamBrogan of plotting to steal the company's patents, setting up a fake Twitter account to promote negative news stories on the company, and planning to start a competing company, among other accusations. READ MORE>>.

Patents 124
article thumbnail

RPost Sues Adobe, EchoSign

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based RPost , a developer of electronic signature services, has filed a suit against Adobe and EchoSign for patent infringement, the firm said this morning. RPost sued Santa Barbara-based RightSignature and fellow electronic signature firm DocuSign in June over the same patents. READ MORE>>.

Patents 164
article thumbnail

Reflections on 2018: Kelly Perdew, Moonshots Capital

socalTECH

What was the biggest news for your firm in 2018? Closing our inaugural fund was big news for us, but even bigger news in my perspective has been the breakaway performance of many of our investments led by military veteran founders: 1.

Capital 113
article thumbnail

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Software Patents

Startup Professionals Musings

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. Yet the software patent process is a mess. I say this with conviction even after I survived the process, and have a software patent pending. Patents granted that don’t meet the criteria.

Patents 50