4 ms·

Ask HN: How to check if your software feature might already be patented?

5 points by jb1991 4y ago

If you come up with a feature or UI mechanism for an app, is there a way to check somewhere if it might already be patented? I remember working in the fintech space years ago and some companies would go well out of their way to avoid a particularly intuitive and accepted way to interacting with, for example, a stock chart, because of a patent by another company on a tiny UI tool. I wonder how you could check this with any kind of application?

WalterGR 4y ago
> I wonder how you could check this with any kind of application? You find a lawyer or a firm that specializes in patent searches. If you discover a patent and then infringe upon it, you'll be committing willful patent infringement vs. patent infringement. See https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/federal-circuit-clarifies-standards-for-6010178/ https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/federal-circuit-clarifies-... . (Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.)
speedgoose 4y ago
I don’t have to because I work in Europe and I don’t have customers in jurisdictions with software patents.
- jb1991 4y ago
  That's rather naive. > European Patents Office (EPO) grants software patents by declaring them as "computer implemented inventions". from https://fsfe.org/activities/swpat/swpat.en.html https://fsfe.org/activities/swpat/swpat.en.html
  - speedgoose 4y ago
    Yes they are shady but the law is simple. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_European_Patent_Convention https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_the_E... For example, Ffmpeg or VLC exist because they are based in France. Check the paragraph about patents: https://www.videolan.org/legal.html https://www.videolan.org/legal.html
    - vasili111 4y ago
      >For example, Ffmpeg or VLC exist because they are based in France. Check the paragraph about patents: https://www.videolan.org/legal.html https://www.videolan.org/legal.html Those two are free open source software, not proprietary commercial.
      - speedgoose 4y ago
        What’s the difference from a patent point of view? I’d you want a commercial company using VLC of ffmpeg, you have https://videolabs.io/ https://videolabs.io/