Protect Your Business Methods From Poachers
December 8, 2006
In 1998, a federal appeals court ruled that business methods can be patented. That seemed like a fairly innocuous decision, but it's made things very complicated for tax advisors. Since that decision, 49 tax-strategy methods have been patented, and now some tax advisors are being threatened with lawsuits for providing advice that someone else had claimed control over.
Knowing what I know about the creation and dissemination of business ideas, I can say with a good deal of confidence that there are very few new business ideas. Most ideas, formulas, and methods that sound new are merely repackaged from material that someone borrowed from someone else. This decision is going to cause all kinds of trouble and expense for tax advisors ... and I suspect it may also spill over into other business areas.
posted by M. Masterson @ 2:36 PM,
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