I agree with your sentiment. IMHO, being first to market is more important, and the attorney who did the presentation also mentioned that all IP aside, getting

I agree with your sentiment. IMHO, being first to market is more important, and the attorney who did the presentation also mentioned that all IP aside, getting something done and being far ahead of the competition is a strategy that he sees many successful clients take. However, he recommended both getting a patent and being first to market. And as much as I might not care, and be of the opinion that patents are broken system which I won't mess with. It is not the case for everyone. I am helping to organize a co-working/incubator space in my local community and if it is indeed true that you can't file a patent once you've used the co-working space to work out of, then the potential members should at least be ware. I'm hoping other HNers have experience on this and may have a better answer than not participating in a co-working space.