K2K Law · Software IP

AI made cloning your software effortless. We make it actionable.

Competitors can now use AI to scrape an interface, reverse-engineer a frontend, and ship a look-alike in days. K2K Law builds layered IP protection around a software product, so that a clone leaves you with claims you can act on: design patents, enforceable terms, copyright registrations, and trade dress.

Secure my platform How the layers work
Flat-fee packagesBy K2K Law · Kroub Kolmykov PLLCUpdated
In brief

Can a competitor legally clone your SaaS product with AI?

Not safely, if the product is protected in layers. AI can rewrite code well enough to sidestep a copyright claim based on literal copying. It cannot rewrite its way around a design patent on how your interface looks, a contract the cloner accepted, or trade dress that customers recognize. The protection has to be in place before the clone appears.

K2K Law is a New York intellectual property firm. This page explains the four layers, how the work is packaged, and what to check in your own product. For a self-assessment, use the 12-point AI-era software IP audit.

The problem

The rules of reverse engineering have changed.

Copying a SaaS platform used to take a team of engineers months. Today a single developer with a large language model and an automated browser can reproduce a frontend in an afternoon.

Because they are not copying and pasting your source code, cloners often assume there is nothing you can do. That assumption is frequently wrong, but only for companies that prepared. A copyright registration on its own protects your code and creative assets as written. It does little against an AI-assisted rewrite that reproduces the experience with different code.

We approach the problem the way an engineer approaches a system with a single point of failure: add independent layers, so a cloner who gets past one runs into another.

The solution

Layered protection. More ways to hold a cloner accountable.

Each layer protects something different and fails in a different way. Used together they cover the look of the product, the terms of access, the code, and the brand.

  1. UI and UX design patents

    A U.S. design patent protects the ornamental appearance of a graphical interface shown on a display, including screen layouts, icons and animated transitions. Infringement turns on how the design looks to an ordinary observer, so producing the same look with AI-written code is not a defense. See 35 U.S.C. § 171 and the USPTO’s March 2026 guidance on interface designs. Design patents for a SaaS interface →

  2. Enforceable terms of service

    Terms that sit behind a footer link are difficult to enforce. We draft terms for clickwrap acceptance that expressly prohibit automated scraping, training AI models on your interface and outputs, and using the product to build a competing one. A user who clones through an account has then breached a contract. For gated areas of the product, written revocation of access may also support a claim under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. AI training bans in terms of service →

  3. Strategic copyright registrations

    Registration is required before suing on a U.S. work (17 U.S.C. § 411), and registering before infringement begins keeps statutory damages and attorney’s fees available (§ 412). We register the code and the creative assets that define the product. See the Copyright Office’s circular on computer programs.

  4. Trade dress and brand identity

    The overall look and feel of software can be protected under the Lanham Act when it is distinctive and non-functional and an imitation is likely to confuse customers. These claims depend on evidence, so we help you build the record: a consistent design language, registered marks, and proof that customers associate the look with you.

Comparison

The anti-cloning protection matrix.

How each form of protection holds up against AI-assisted cloning, and how we use it.

IP protections for software compared against AI-assisted cloning
ProtectionWhat it protectsAgainst AI cloningHow K2K Law uses it
Source-code copyrightYour code and creative assets as written.Weakest against a rewrite. AI can produce new code that avoids literal copying.Register early to preserve statutory damages and fees, and pair it with the layers below.
Design patentThe ornamental appearance of screens, icons and animated transitions.Holds up well. What matters is how the interface looks, not how the code was produced.File on your signature screens before launch, or within one year of it in the United States.
Terms of serviceThe conditions on which users may access and use the product.Binds users who accept. Reaches less far against anonymous scraping of public pages.Clickwrap acceptance, express bans on scraping, AI training and competitive use, and written revocation.
Trade dress and trademarksA distinctive, non-functional look and feel; names and logos.Applies when a clone is likely to confuse customers.Keep the design language consistent, gather evidence of recognition, and register the marks.
Trade secretsNon-public code, models, data and know-how.Can be lost through disclosure, including to an AI tool with no confidentiality terms.Audit how engineers use AI tools and move sensitive work to enterprise terms.
Flat-fee packages

Predictable pricing for predictable protection.

Three fixed-fee packages, matched to the stage of the product. We quote the fee after a short scoping conversation, and there is no hourly billing for the work listed.

K2K Law flat-fee software IP packages
PackageBest forIncluded services
The Pre-Launch ShieldStartups in beta or at an early MVP stage.Custom terms of service with anti-scraping and AI-training restrictions, a privacy policy, and a U.S. copyright registration for your core source code.
The UI FortressPost-revenue SaaS with a distinctive interface.Everything in the Pre-Launch Shield, plus one U.S. design patent application on a core interface, including professional drawings prepared to USPTO requirements.
The Enterprise ArsenalMarket leaders preparing for active enforcement or already facing cloning.Everything in the UI Fortress, plus a trademark application, a trade dress analysis, an AI trade secret audit, and a pre-litigation evidence-preservation plan with a draft Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) order.

Government filing fees (USPTO and U.S. Copyright Office) are billed separately at cost and depend on your entity size. The fee and scope of each engagement are confirmed in a written engagement letter before work begins. Representation depends on a conflicts review.

The enterprise advantage

Protect your secrets and your server logs.

Registrations and contracts are not enough if day-to-day engineering practice undermines them. The Enterprise Arsenal adds two reviews aimed at litigation readiness.

The AI trade secret audit

In Trinidad v. OpenAI Inc., No. 25-cv-06328-JST (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2026), a federal court dismissed a Defend Trade Secrets Act claim brought against OpenAI by a self-represented plaintiff. She said she had developed her frameworks using ChatGPT. The court held that she had not alleged reasonable measures to keep them secret, because building them that way meant voluntarily sharing them with OpenAI.

It is one district court decision on unusual facts. The lesson for a software company is still direct: confidential work put into an AI tool without confidentiality terms may no longer qualify as a trade secret. We review which AI tools your engineers use, what the vendor contracts say about confidentiality and model training, and what needs to change.

Evidence preservation and a Rule 502(d) order

Proving that a cloner used automation against your platform usually means producing large volumes of logs and telemetry. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d), a federal court can order that privilege is not waived by a disclosure made in the litigation, and that protection carries into other federal and state proceedings. We prepare a preservation plan for the evidence you would need and a draft 502(d) order for your litigation team.

Who we are

Built by engineers. Weaponized by lawyers.

Protecting a modern SaaS product takes counsel who can read a DOM, understand how headless browsers and model pipelines work, and explain both to a judge. At K2K Law the technical foundation is part of the legal work.

Sergey Kolmykov, a founding partner, earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University before becoming a patent attorney. He is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and has more than 25 years of experience in patent defense and enforcement, with a practice focused on high-technology disputes involving software, networking and AI-enabled systems. Both founding partners are registered patent attorneys.

We also build software ourselves. K2K Intelligence, the firm’s AI patent-diligence platform, was designed and built in-house. We know how developers use language models, automated browsers and computer vision to reproduce an interface because we work with the same tools.

When we draft terms of service, we write them against the scraping techniques in use now. When we file a design or utility patent, we map it to how the product is actually built.

We are founders protecting founders.

Questions founders ask

AI-era software IP: short answers.

Each answer starts with the conclusion. The paragraph beneath gives the source and the limits.

Can a competitor legally copy my SaaS interface with AI?

Rewriting the code with AI does not make a clone lawful. Copyright alone gives a software interface thin protection, because it covers code and creative expression as written, not a layout or workflow idea. A U.S. design patent on your signature screens protects how the interface looks, so a visual copy can infringe no matter how its code was produced.

Design patent infringement is judged by appearance: whether an ordinary observer would find the accused design substantially the same as the patented one. That makes the scope of each patent specific to what its drawings show, which is why we file on the screens that define the product. See 35 U.S.C. § 171 and the USPTO design patent guide.

How do I stop AI bots from scraping my software for training data?

No single measure stops scraping. Put the product behind a login, present your terms through clickwrap that expressly bans automated collection and AI training, log automated access, and revoke access in writing when you detect it. Those steps create a breach-of-contract claim and, for gated areas of the product, may support a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim.

A terms-of-service breach on its own generally does not make access “unauthorized” under the CFAA. In Van Buren v. United States (U.S. 2021) the Supreme Court read the statute as asking whether a user was entitled to enter the part of the system at issue. In hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn (9th Cir. 2022), the court found serious questions about whether scraping pages open to the public is covered at all, while noting that contract, trespass and copyright claims may still be available. In Amazon.com Services v. Perplexity AI (9th Cir. Aug. 4, 2026), the court vacated a preliminary injunction against an AI shopping agent, reasoning that on those facts it was the user, not the agent’s maker, who accessed Amazon’s computers. Enforceable terms and gated access are what make the contract claims usable.

Does using a public AI tool put my trade secrets at risk?

It can. Trade secret protection requires reasonable measures to keep the information secret. In Trinidad v. OpenAI Inc. (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2026), a federal court dismissed a trade secret claim because the plaintiff said she developed her frameworks in ChatGPT, which meant she had voluntarily shared them with OpenAI. Use AI tools under enterprise terms that include confidentiality and no-training commitments.

Trinidad v. OpenAI Inc., No. 25-cv-06328-JST, was a suit by a self-represented plaintiff against OpenAI itself, and it is a single district court decision. The reasoning still matters to any company: information disclosed to someone with no duty to keep it confidential may stop being a trade secret under 18 U.S.C. § 1839(3).

When should I file a design patent on my interface?

Before you show the interface publicly, if you can. The United States allows one year from your own first public disclosure to file, but many other countries allow less time or none. A U.S. design patent lasts 15 years from grant and has no maintenance fees.

The one-year U.S. grace period is in 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)(1); the 15-year term is in 35 U.S.C. § 173. If international protection matters, treat the launch date as the deadline.

How does K2K Law price software IP protection?

K2K Law offers the work as three flat-fee packages matched to the stage of the product: the Pre-Launch Shield, the UI Fortress, and the Enterprise Arsenal. The fee is quoted after a short scoping conversation and fixed in a written engagement letter. Government filing fees are billed separately at cost.

Each package is described in the table above. Representation depends on a conflicts review.

What should I do if my product has already been cloned?

Preserve the evidence first: dated screenshots and recordings of the clone, your server and access logs, and the account records of any user you suspect. Then have counsel check which rights you can assert, including registrations, terms the cloner accepted, and design or trade dress protection, before you contact the other side.

Timing affects remedies. For U.S. copyright, statutory damages and attorney’s fees generally require registration before the infringement began or within three months of first publication (17 U.S.C. § 412). See what to do when your app is cloned for the full sequence.

General information about U.S. law as of October 14, 2026, not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the facts, the specific rights involved and the court. Nothing on this page predicts or guarantees a result, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Go deeper

Find the gaps before a competitor does.

Four open guides, each answering one question. No email required.

Stop leaving your interface exposed.

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