It depends on what your app is. If it's some helpful consumer app that doesn't regulate airplane traffic, doesn't secretly install spyware, doesn't accidentally erase the hard drive when the wrong data is entered, your chance of trouble with customers is low in practice. And nonexistent if you are operating in a different country than your customers.<p>Your greatest risk is that of being sued by a competitor over patents because he would rather do that than create a better product.<p>Incorporating won't help if you are the developer, you are still liable for errors in your own work. Lawsuits against big companies don't usually name individual developers only because they don't have the deep pockets, and because they agreed to testify against their employer confessing their errors in return for being dropped from the lawsuit.<p>If you do want coverage, your option is to get E&O (errors and omissions) insurance which covers liability up to a limit you pay for, and only covers you during the time you pay for it. So if your program is out in the wild and you are out of business and 10 years from now it causes data loss and you didn't maintain those premiums, you could still be tracked down and sued. Not very likely but remotely possible. The theoretical answer is to continue paying for E&O forever, or license software only for specific time periods so you can safely shut down operations if needed.<p>Again, the chance of being sued is low. If you have insurance, they cover the cost of defending you in a lawsuit and also make you a less desirable target because it means there are insurance company lawyers defending against the claims, so chance of success in a lawsuit is smaller and can only be obtained at greater cost.<p>Most likely threat to you is really competitors coming after you with bogus patent claims, which can easily bankrupt you to fight against. Best way to avoid that is operate your business from a location that is difficult to bring legal actions in.