is a question that I (and I would imagine many lawyers) get a lot.  Entrepreneurs obviously want to know whether a potential course of action they are thinking about taking will end up causing them to be sued - by a customer, by a competitor, or by anyone else.  And, unfortunately, this question is usually not conducive to a "Yes" or "No" answer.  Like many answers in the law (especially intellectual property law) in which little is black and white, the best answer we can often give is "it depends." 

The reason "it depends" is that we are trying to predict (because we certainly can’t control) the actions of a third party (and their lawyer). In our judicial system, anyone can sue anyone at any time for almost anything.  Doing so does not mean they will ultimately be successful, of course.  They might even lose on summary judgment, which basically means that a judge has decided there is no legal merit to their case even before a trial has occurred.  But the defendant will still have to get to at least that point, and getting there takes time and money.  Given that in the U.S. everyone pays their own lawyer (unless there is a statutory or contract provision stating otherwise), you can can expend significant resources vindicating yourself.  Which may make you feel like you have lost, even when you have won.  Whether or not a lawsuit is filed depends in part on the legal merits of the claims to be made, of course, but, unfortunately, it also depends on the motivations of the potential plaintiff, the financial resources they may have, and the advice that they are getting from their business colleagues and lawyers.  Some lawsuits are filed for little more reason than as a bullying tactic.

So, when asked to give my opinion on whether or not you will get sued, I always start with an explanation like I have above.  We can then get to the merits of the potential case, actions you may take to avoid a potential lawsuit (the focus of my law practice), and whether or not you are likely to prevail if you do get sued.  But the question of whether or not a lawsuit will be filed is one that cannot be definitively answered.  I understand that that is not a very satisfying answer for an entrepreneur but sometimes it is the best we can do.

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