What are the best practices to avoid patent infringement/being a target of a patent troll?
I been reading lots of NOLO law books, I got 10 books from the library right now about IP law, Patent, Copyright, how to do Legal Research and so on. I know there stuff like EFF https://www.eff.org to help. There's Google Patent or USPTO search to look for prior art and stuff from 20 years ago is expiring* (I know it's not that simple but just want to be brief).
But I just feel anxious about the whole thing, it really has made me stop coding/sharing code/building stuff. It's just so time consuming when the old me would just jump into a fresh project and just start building instead. I see my old friends from college blatantly copying UI designs when they don't realize most of them are under Design Patents and they're at risk. Maybe I'm being dramatic but it seems that patent trolls are on the rise against even small players, so many new software patents are being filed at a rate more than you can reasonable keep up with, and in the coming recession it might be even more profitable to be litigious against small time devs. It feels like a necessity to cover your bases while you can.
I know there's no way to be completely safe, but there must be a some approach to at least reduce the majority of your risk. To do things the right way. What should a dev do to reduce their risk? (Right now I'm reading into Single Member LLCs so that I could offset the risk to that in case of a lawsuit but I'm just learning stuff right now, everything is fuzzy and more complicated than I can try to describe in a few paragraphs).
"That reminds me to remark, in passing, that the very first official thing I did, in my administration-and it was on the first day of it, too-was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab, and couldn't travel any way but sideways or backways." —Mark Twain
It just feels like it'd be easier to just give up building software but it shouldn't feel like that, I thought the patent laws were to promote the drive to pursue innovation.
Honestly with the way the USPTO goes about issuing patents makes everything super easy to refute as well as defend - it all comes down to court procedure: timing of motions, evidence and arguments. So, usually if you have the right funding (read: sales, not investment) you can find a lawyer who will construct a 112 / 115 defense with previously published works if you want to be safe; or can construct a “Teaches Against” defense to say your patent / process is unique.
Think of patents like sanctions - there’s usually ways to get what you want in all environments.
Not a lawyer just had to listen to them discuss my life’s work through robotic arguments.
It's at least 2x where I am (Boston area). I heard that some firms used to cut a deal for equity but I am not sure if that's still a thing.
I wouldn't stop creating things. It's possible to change something in response to a legal challenge.