Red Bank, NJ, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Goldstein Intellectual Property, a boutique patent law firm, released insights on the rising demand for software patents as artificial intelligence tools accelerate app development and enable a new class of founders to launch products faster. The firm indicates that this shift is creating increased legal and valuation risks for companies that do not secure intellectual property protection early.
Vibe coding has fundamentally changed who can launch a tech company, highlighting a critical need for software patents. This practice involves building software applications through natural language prompts rather than traditional programming.
According to Rich Goldstein, founder and principal patent attorney at Goldstein Intellectual Property, the movement has created a dangerous blind spot: founders are shipping products faster than ever while ignoring the intellectual property that may determine what their company may be worth when it is time to sell.
Goldstein Intellectual Property has spent more than 30 years helping entrepreneurs, startups, and software companies secure patents and build IP portfolios that increase their value. The firm has obtained more than 2,500 patents for clients across industries including software, robotics, and consumer technology.
The rise of vibe coding has made software creation accessible to a new class of founder. But that accessibility has a legal cost that few are accounting for. Under current U.S. copyright law, AI-generated code does not automatically belong to the person who prompted it, a finding the U.S. Copyright Office addressed in its January 2025 report. Both copyright and patent law require a human author or invention. Whatever portion was generated by the AI is not protectible under copyright or patent law.
"Entrepreneurs often say that it is important to 'build with the end in mind,'" said Rich Goldstein, founder and principal patent attorney at Goldstein Intellectual Property.