IP Lawyer Says: 'Stop Wasting Money On Patents'

IP Lawyer Says: 'Stop Wasting Money On Patents': "Erik Heels, an intellectual property lawyer and a regular Techdirt reader, has put up a nice blog post, explaining why patents rarely make sense for startups (especially if the patents are for software). He notes that, in most cases, filing for a patent is 'a waste of time and energy,' not to mention money -- not that 'your money and time would be better spent hiring programmers, marketers, and a sales force.' Indeed. Unfortunately, lots of startups think they need patents -- often erroneously claiming that VCs won't invest without patents. But as many smart VCs point out, having patents for a startup is usually pretty useless. Startups live or die in the marketplace with a product -- and that product is rarely going to wait around for a patent. Focus on building a business, not wasting time and energy on useless patents.

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