Josh Kopelman at First Round Capital has a good post on the value of patents after fighting for 8.5 years to get one of his granted. His Half.com (Ebay.com) patent received six rejections, half of them final, before it was allowed. I explain this to clients, particularly software startups, on a daily basis – good patents are often very hard to get, you will receive many rejections, and it will be very expensive to respond to those rejections with no guarantee that you will ever be granted a patent. Fire your patent attorney if he fails to explain that to you.
This might sound funny from someone who makes his living writing and prosecuting patents, but I have counseled many potential clients away from patents. Instead, I encouraged them to spend their initial funds on product development while keeping me abreast of their developments so we can file the right patent application, at the right time, that provides the most value to their business. There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not to patent, but the comparatively small amount of money spent on early consultations with a good patent attorney can set the stage for a valuable and well informed patent strategy. Some additional thoughts from Ask The VC (1, 2).
Links: Half.com Patent 7,373,317, First Round Capital, Redeye VC, Ask the VC.
