Early on in my career I took a “we’re moving too fast to deal with lawyers” attitude to patents and Intellectual Property (IP.) That changed when I joined the board of a startup, and we sued Microsoft and Sony on the same day for patent infringement – andwon $120 million.
A few caveats, this post is not legal advice, it’s not even advice, and it deals with law in the United States. Outside the U.S. your results will vary depending on your distance to a consistent and predictable legal system.