Guy Kawasaki recently asked us to respond to his comments about the role of patents in the defensibility of a startup. We did. And, as you’ve come to know us, we don’t give the typical patent attorney response. Our take on the defensibility question: Sometimes, you’ve got to realize that “patent everything” is not the best strategy…and then develop a big-picture intellectual property strategy that is custom-tailored to the startup and its industry. Be brave and accept the fact that patents just might not be the whole enchilada in that picture. Read the complete Rethinker’s response over on Guy’s blog.
Wow–patent attorneys arguing for the importance of … patents and patenting. Go figure!
The nuance of our response – which, admittedly, we could have un-nuanced a bit – is that we warn against following the “patent everything!” mentality that is espoused by many. A better answer than “we’ve got patents” to the defensibility question is, we think, “we’ve developed a comprehensive intellectual property strategy that is custom-tailored to our industry.” Patents may play a large or small role in that strategy…and indeed may play no role at all in some industries.