Alex

Your feed is optimized to trigger you. I'm taking mine back.
Building Smart Filter: AI that hides what you don't want to see.

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

I launched a product and almost got sued over things I didn’t know existed.

5 legal traps nobody tells you about before launch. Bookmark this. 🧵

1/ Your name is probably taken.
Buying a domain gives you no rights to the name. Search the trademark databases (USPTO, EUIPO, WIPO) before you print a single sticker. Rebranding after launch costs far more than a 20-minute search beforehand.

2/ Your Google Fonts can get you fined.
A German court fined a site owner because the site loaded Google Fonts from Google’s servers and sent visitor IPs to the US without consent. Thousands of copycat warning letters followed. GDPR applies if you have EU users, even if you’re based in Texas. Self-host your fonts.

3/ Google Images is not a stock photo site.
Photographers and agencies use automated tools that find unlicensed images and send invoices for hundreds or thousands per image. Same goes for fonts, icons and music. Keep proof of every license.

4/ That “free” library might own your code.
Open source licenses are contracts. GPL can force you to release your source code if you distribute your software. AGPL can trigger that even when you only run it as a service. Check every dependency’s license.

5/ Your co-founder could walk away with half the company.
No founder agreement, no vesting and no IP assignment mean a co-founder who leaves after 3 months can keep their equity and claim the code they wrote. Same for freelancers: if the contract doesn’t transfer IP, they own it.

Paste this into Claude before you ship:

“Before launch, audit this project for legal risks: third-party requests that send user data (fonts, analytics, embeds), images, fonts and icons without a clear license, and dependencies under GPL or AGPL. List each finding with the file, the risk and a fix. Use self-hosted assets and permissively licensed packages for anything new you build.”

None of this is meant to scare you out of launching.
It’s meant to make sure a $50 fix today doesn’t become a $50,000 problem later.

Not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer in your jurisdiction.
What legal surprise hit you after launching? 👇

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@danieldwalton doing well - how about you

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

I'd love to CONNECT with fellow builders!

- I'm Alex, 40yo, living in Berlin
- Proud father of the cutest 4-year old <3
- Trained as a Data Scientist, learned a lot about engineering working in tech
- Laid off 2 months ago, next adventure will be to build sth for myself. Looking to exchange on that!

Strongly held opinions:
- anthropic > openai
- vi > emacs
- mac > windows
- iterative > thorough
- beer > wine > craft beer
- stocks > real estate
- Berlin > London

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@Curlh1 with or without comments?

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@alexvence_ @X I see! Also heard the term GEO for the same thing before.

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@DaneBuilds @X Full stack builder originally trained in data science here, let's connect!

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@mikeydsoftware First 2 hours since post creation? Nope, for sure haven't seen it.

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@orendev_ Hey Oren, let's connect! Do you think idle CPU will become a more scarce resource with AI? Mine definitely is :)

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@heykrishnagupta Hey @k, let's connect! Btw I disagree with you, I think to be good at math you need to be creative :)

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@bryntamm Happy to connect Brian! What are you building?

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@EdenBitton7 I'm wondering the same, but "let's connect" seems to be the winning strategy for now :)

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@orguku I'm building https://t.co/CDPgt1DwWj. happy to connect!

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@Georgeandh Let's do it!

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@I71360 I'm shipping https://t.co/CDPgt1DwWj to filter your feeds from stuff you don't want. Happy to connect!

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@j0nathanla @X hi! what's the advantage of deploying an app on widefleet vs vercel/cloudflare?

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@pradhanaren better safe than sorry :)

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@niuniu_dev thanks Sean! how's building niuniu going so far for you?

[Alex @alexkbuilds]

@rakibxzs Indie hacker here! let's connect