Ask HN: Any interest in a free course on patents and IP for startups?

15 points by scromar 13 years ago | 11 comments

The HN community seems to be anti-patent (especially software patents) in general, however knowledge is power. Would you be interested in a free course on patents (and intellectual property in general) tailored specifically for startups, and taught by experienced patent attorneys?

Examples of topics that may be covered in such a course include: evaluating the importance of patents to your startup; how to prepare and file a patent application; the advantages of provisional patent applications; how to respond to an accusation of patent infringement; when to talk to an attorney; evaluating the patent landscape in your field; enforcement and licensing of patents and other IP; the basics of copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets; etc.

What other topics would you be interested in covering in such a course?

pbhjpbhj 13 years ago |

You should cover, or at least note, jurisdictional differences and interactions, promotion of patents to national/regional/international phases and such. For example "How will having a US patent help me against a European developer?", "Someone has copied my whole site and is serving it from Papua New Guinea, can I sue them in the US?"

As an aside could I make a request that those posting on legal matters or on subjects that are highly regionally variant note which region they're posting from.

scromar 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback! Those are great ideas.

And you're right, I should have noted in the OP that the focus would be on U.S. law. However, patent law and patent issues frequently cross borders today, so international issues should certainly be part of the course.

co_pl_te 13 years ago |

I'd also be very interested in such a course. Law in general is way down there on the list of things that interest me, but I'd rather be readily equipped with such knowledge than blissfully ignorant.

Although not specifically related to patent law, I'd really like to know more about choosing the right lawyer/firm for one's startup.

There's so little I know that I feel I should know. I think you'll find a lot of HNers that would be interested in such a course.

scromar 13 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback. I recognize that for many (all?) startups, legal issues are some of the last things that they want to have to deal with. We would make an effort to keep things interesting, brief, and pertinent. That is one of the reasons why I am looking for feedback like this.

Justen 13 years ago |

I know very little about patents so I can't offer another topic, but I'd be very interested in everything you listed.

zeynalov 13 years ago |

I'm also interested. Do we speak about online courses? You can add my email to your newsletter list, to say when it'll be ready.

kevinrpope 13 years ago |

This would be great - where do we sign up?

sidrt 13 years ago |

+1. I'd very much appreciate this course

yeazayer 13 years ago |

I am interested.

midibite 13 years ago |

I'm interested.

forcer 13 years ago |

Interested