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Should Startups Invest In Patents?
Posted in Growth
"... What is the value to startups in filing patents? Do VCs really care?"
Rob's take (and he is a VC) is that:
1: Software patents have in our experience not added significant value to early stage companies when they are acquired;
2: Early stage companies can’t afford to use granted patents as an offensive weapon (this is equivalent to the rules of Mutually Assured Destruction), a few nukes isn’t going to cut it when fighting a super power;
3: It costs a huge amount of time and money to do a high quality patent filing, there are a lot better things to spend your time and money on; and
4: The rules are changing and making this whole area less predictable.
I think Rob is pretty dead-on accurate. In fact, I think patents are probably the most overvalued "asset" that startups promote when raising funds.
Now, let me caution everyone on a couple of things ..."
Read the full article on Askthevc.com, published November 21, 2007.