What are the difficulties for startups to apply for patents?

Under the current "internet plus" development model, various innovations are constantly emerging. In many innovative business models, the boundaries between technical fields and non-technical fields, as well as between technical and non-technical features, have begun to blur. Many innovations are methods in themselves. These methods can bring great benefits to society, have great economic value and are worth protecting.

For startups, there are still some objective difficulties in applying for patents, especially the business model with technical characteristics. The patent application process is very long, and the invention patent takes two years, while the software product development process is as short as two or three months, and the company may last less than two years. Therefore, it seems unnecessary and unrealistic to apply for a patent. Therefore, some venture capital companies and software start-ups say that they usually don't apply for patents until they have laid a solid foundation for the company, because it is expensive and time-consuming.

However, with the introduction of the new intellectual property protection policy and the serious plagiarism in China, patents play an important role in protecting creativity, technical solutions, increasing company valuation, enhancing exclusivity and even attacking rivals. Understanding intellectual property knowledge and protecting their own interests are the basic qualities that entrepreneurs should have at present. They should spend tens of thousands of dollars to lay out a series of patents to prevent problems before they happen. Why not?