Patent

To the extent your tech may be patentable, it is usually advisable to apply for that protection. Determining whether your tech is at least potentially patentable would involve some due diligence; e.g., a prior art search and opinion rendered on the results of that search. That same analysis may expose potential source of patent infringement claims.

Your tech doesn't "need" a patent short of some requirement a licensee may likely have or your desire to prevent others from practicing (e.g., making, using, selling, offering to sell) your tech. It is possible that either your tech is not patentable subject matter or that the prior art renders your tech preempted and/or obvious.

A reasonable first step would be to contact a patent attorney to review what you have developed and outline a path to protect your IP to the extent possible.

Hi,

To get an idea here is the subject matter that is considered patentable under 35 USC 101: process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof (subject to other statutory requirements).

Currently, the following ARE NOT patent eligible: laws of nature, physical phenomena, abstract ideas, natural phenomena, scientific principles, systems that depend on human intelligence alone, disembodied concepts, mental processes and disembodied mathematical algorithms and formulas, and human per se.

As Adam points out, it requires an attorney (or agent) to examine what you have and tell you how you may be able protect it. For example, a service app may be a process and you can file method claims. Or it may be unpatentbale because of the Alice decision (considered too abstract). It's impossible to tell without more information.

Hope this helps,
Mary