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But the value of the patent comes out of someone potentially enforcing it at some point. Would you feel bad if the buyers of your startup enforced the patent or
by air 14y ago
But the value of the patent comes out of someone potentially enforcing it at some point. Would you feel bad if the buyers of your startup enforced the patent or sold it to a patent troll?
- huhtenberg 14y agoThere's also a deterrence value in patents, what's called a defensive patent portfolio. If someone were to sue you, you would sue back and that, presumably, stops them from making a move. A patent making its way to a patent troll is certainly not a good thing, but being an unlikely event it needs to weighed against the benefits of having a patent. With regards to the buyers enforcing the patent, this is easily handled by obtaining their commitment to use my patents only in a defensive capacity. In my case I didn't have to get an explicit commitment, because I knew the company and its internal ethics well, but in a more general case it's really not a show stopper.