one010101

I agree mostly, but I would never say what can or can't happen, since this is in the civil arena. It all depends on what a jury would consider "reasonable" and that's hard to nail down. At the end of the day I think you are right, but Apple might like the value added and may not decide this is someone worth investing their massive resources to mobilize against. I'd prepare for it, but it is by no means inevitable.

That's normal. Just because you're good doesn't mean all your competitors are, though. There's a name for that that I can't remember, but the simple fact is that you can carve out market space even with substantial competition. You only need to distinguish yourself by competence, responsiveness, honesty and transparency and ethical dealings. imho, that's the key.

FTW! Good advice. That would give you a way to keep earning income on your products even if the name itself gets "complicated" by potential future legal action.

Any of us who have done a successful startup knows that the name itself is great for marketing, but as soon as it becomes a liability be prepared to sell it or abandon it, if necessary.

Word of warning: legal action is a major expense, once it gets its teeth into any company. Even Microsoft suffered tremendously because of it.

Litigation is the most expensive legal action for both sides. If you can meet a challenge with an amicable settlement you will have a much greater chance for survival long-term. i.e., be prepared to cease and desist on the narrow issue of the name. Try to contain the legal issue.

My advice (which is solely personal. I am not a lawyer) is to do all you can to anticipate legal challenges and have files ready to go when your attorneys might need them. Or, if the IRS requests documentation. They require full and complete business records. The standard is nebulous, except as regard financial transactions. Those are pretty clear. Full and complete is safest.

Documentation is like disclosure. Just like the old joke about voting in Chicage. "do it early and often" Not publicly, necessarily, of course.

Before you even start using a trademark owned by a large company, you need to prepare your eventual defense theory.

Look at the case of Mr. McDonald who was told he can't use that name. Even though it was his.

And make sure you have a good attorney involved from the get-go. Don't let him prevent you from doing things so much as allow him to be ready for any legal challenges.

My 2c worth. Good fortune, my friend!

You've got the right attitude for running a business, however I would caution you to begin preparing your counter-case now, just in case. No pun intended.

Yes, eventually. Their success will hinge on whether you used the name before they did, imho. But you are a value-added service for them, so unless you poke at them they might simply decide to tolerate it. Their case would be complicated, regardless of the registry dates. But they have deep pockets and a case like that would bring them publicity, (as it would you), so who knows what they'll decide to do or not. Hard to predict that one. If I was on their counsel staff I'd say they should go for it and make sure there is nobody else using their trademark. And that's their pattern. I hope you're saving most of your income for your next venture. And I hope you are preparing your legal team with all the information you have available so they can give you the best advice possible. Good luck, my friend.

Depends on what you want it to do! Give us some guidance here.

I agree completely. When you've written enough code that you have confidence you can solve real-world problems, you're there. In my personal case it took just a couple of years before I could sell my code. And now I've done it for nearly 30 more years.

The best part is that you can sell your advice even before you can sell your code. That way you'll learn more about what the real world needs out of a programmer. And they'll pay you to learn!

My clients are pretty effective at keeping me moving along the right track. It would be nice to have a network like you describe, but I don't have time to try to find them!

Just do it. Pick a project and program it. Then do another. Practice is the key.

Hmm. Why are you on Facebook if you don't want to be part of it?

Just dive in, and start! Prototype, model, plan. Fake it until you make it, in other words.

They only have 30 days to investigate any dispute. If it is for an adverse item more than a couple of years old they may never even try. I would urge everyone to go to annualcreditreport.com, get the report, then dispute every single item!

Ham radio

Depends on the startup. Apple was two guys. Google started as two guys. Same with Microsoft. Then as things grow they often hire rapidly.

I agree 100%. Take it as it comes. Good luck, my friend!

Most of what you want is on the web. But I would suggest an intro to Boolean arithmetic and see if that sparks anything. Just basic operations. Then look at how those simple operations can build bigger ones. It uses math, sure, but is a whole different world from general math. Of course you'll need some algebra in order to program in C++ but not too much. That's sufficient for 1st year CS classes.

You'll want Geometry to understand graphics, and you'll want some basic trig and a dash of differential calculus in order to animate.

Look around on the web and you'll find all of it.

Yes.