Back in 2010, I came up with an idea for a visual productivity app built around digital sticky notes.

When I tried to commercialize it, I was told that without patent protection I could be sued out of existence by larger companies. So I spent years developing the concept and was awarded U.S. Patent US8548992 in 2013.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US8548992

Unfortunately, the company I founded to market it (MultiTask123) failed in 2015.

When the patent came up for renewal in 2017, I made a decision that many people thought was crazy: I let it expire.

The more I thought about software patents, the less I liked the idea of locking up concepts that could benefit everyone. If someone wanted to build their own version, I wanted them to be free to do it.

So the patent entered the public domain.

In 2024, I quit my day job and decided to give the dream one more shot.

Two years later, that effort became TaskLoco.

What are your thoughts on software patents? Should they be acquired as a defensive posture? Are they legitimate inventions?

No Patent police makes them nearly worthless. Too costly. Nice framed certificate on a wall, not much else.