Suzi Dingwall Williams encourages startups to build a patent portfolio. The patent system, she writes, was overhauled in the 1980's allowing multiple, overlapping "monopolies" to be granted. If you have any kind of success, you should expect to be sued.
It's good advice. At iotum we invested in building a relationship with a patent agent early in our history. The firm we use, Canada's Gowlings, was recently named Canada's top firm for intellectual property law, according to Managing Intellectual Property magazine.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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Completely agree. In fact, I'm in a deal that happened because I was pursuing patents. It was the potential for patents that pushed the purchase at times.