Are Patents Relevant for Web 2.0 Companies
I saw today an interesting article titled “Peter Cochrane’s Blog: NDAs are worthless”. The article describes the lack of effectiveness in an NDA agreement for early stage companies. I share a similar perspective on the matter and only for the most simple reason - who has time to pursue NDA infringers? The only ones I see go running into court with an NDA lawsuit is the side who lost in the match (if you win the business you are after then you don’t really care nor have the time for it so you just stay with a bad “taste” from the partner). Losers many times can not afford pursuing a business opportunity that is lost forever.
One paragraph in the article captured my attention in the context of Web 2.0 “The longevity of ideas and technologies is now so short, the NDA concept has become inherently ineffective in protecting anything or anyone.”. This statement I feel is so true also on the state of patents in Web 2.0. I’m not sure whether someone covered the subject of patents in Web 2.0 companies but my feeling is that nobody applies for one except for those who try please their VC mandate.
In Web 2.0 reality every new day a new idea pops, a new competitor (if they deserve to be called so:) is rising and every new day the last day concept dies. The lifecycle of applying for a patent and waiting for its acceptance does not fit at all with Web 2.0 dynamics. Needless to say that paying a 10K USD for a patent attorney will mean for many Web 2.0 sprouts the end of business.
Dudu
P.S. I’m sure that if my blog was famous many patent lawyers would get pissed of by this post. Thanks god I’m anonymous:)