> I am not a patent lawyer, I likely don't know what I'm talking about. The point of a patent nowadays is to be as vague as possible while still unmistakably p

> I am not a patent lawyer, I likely don't know what I'm talking about. The point of a patent nowadays is to be as vague as possible while still unmistakably protecting the core invention, so that a future patent infringement lawsuit receives the benefits of claims with broad scope. My cofounder and I were once told by our patent attorney (himself a startup founder) that he views a patent application as a failure if the USPTO approves it on the first attempt, because that means he was too specific with his claims. Frankly, as ugly as it sounds, I don't blame the attorneys for working that angle. The patent system itself is structured in such a way as to reward gamesmanship. Technologists are used to viewing clarity and conciseness as positive attributes for technical writing, but straightforwardness is kind of naive and undesirable in the patent world.