Hacker News Reader

Comment by columbo | Hacker News Reader

Patent Trolls are one of the reasons I've kept my small business under the radar and rely on word of mouth or known clients to spread it.

I just can't afford it, and I'd rather open source the whole damn thing over giving some random slimeball in texas a dime.

I've read about Patent Litigation/Troll Insurance, has anyone tried this? Recommendations?

View on HN

I would definitely (and will now) look into it. There is nothing more heart breaking and disappointing then coding for hours, setting up an infrastructure, becoming bootstrapped...then getting a cease and desist. Only thing to compare to that type of disappointment would be doing a quick patent search on a business method you might be implementing.

There are two issues with what you suggest (looking up patents ahead of time):

1. Many times the Cease & Desists, or "Invitations to License" are about completely tangential topics or technologies to the core of your business.

2. If you do specifically look for patents ahead of time, and this becomes known in any legal proceedings, the penalties for willful violation of assorted IP are higher. IANAL but have heard this often enough from people, without seeing it refuted. Someone do correct me if I'm wrong.

Willful patent infringement may lead to triple damages. (In legal terminology, called "treble" damages.)

However, if you've never even looked at the patent, then by definition you cannot be infringing willfully. The payout will be limited to 100%.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com