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Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

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Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

#1

Post by scromar »

The HN community seems to be anti-patent (especially software patents) in general, however knowledge is power. Would you be interested in a free course on patents (and intellectual property in general) tailored specifically for startups, and taught by experienced patent attorneys?

Examples of topics that may be covered in such a course include: evaluating the importance of patents to your startup; how to prepare and file a patent application; the advantages of provisional patent applications; how to respond to an accusation of patent infringement; when to talk to an attorney; evaluating the patent landscape in your field; enforcement and licensing of patents and other IP; the basics of copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets; etc.

What other topics would you be interested in covering in such a course?

Re: Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

#4

Post by pbhjpbhj »

You should cover, or at least note, jurisdictional differences and interactions, promotion of patents to national/regional/international phases and such. For example "How will having a US patent help me against a European developer?", "Someone has copied my whole site and is serving it from Papua New Guinea, can I sue them in the US?"

As an aside could I make a request that those posting on legal matters or on subjects that are highly regionally variant note which region they're posting from.

Re: Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

#5

Post by co_pl_te »

I'd also be very interested in such a course. Law in general is way down there on the list of things that interest me, but I'd rather be readily equipped with such knowledge than blissfully ignorant.

Although not specifically related to patent law, I'd really like to know more about choosing the right lawyer/firm for one's startup.

There's so little I know that I feel I should know. I think you'll find a lot of HNers that would be interested in such a course.

Re: Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

#6

Post by scromar »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #4

You should cover, or at least note, jurisdictional differences and interactions, promotion of patents to national/regional/international phases and such. For example "How will having a US patent help me against a European developer?", "Someone has copied my whole site and is serving it from Papua New Guinea, can I sue them in the US?" As an aside could I make a request that those posting on legal matters or on subjec…

Thanks for the feedback! Those are great ideas.

And you're right, I should have noted in the OP that the focus would be on U.S. law. However, patent law and patent issues frequently cross borders today, so international issues should certainly be part of the course.

Re: Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

#7

Post by scromar »

co_pl_te wrote: post #5

I'd also be very interested in such a course. Law in general is way down there on the list of things that interest me, but I'd rather be readily equipped with such knowledge than blissfully ignorant. Although not specifically related to patent law, I'd really like to know more about choosing the right lawyer/firm for one's startup. There's so little I know that I feel I should know. I think you'll find a lot of HNers…

Thanks for the feedback. I recognize that for many (all?) startups, legal issues are some of the last things that they want to have to deal with. We would make an effort to keep things interesting, brief, and pertinent. That is one of the reasons why I am looking for feedback like this.
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