

Entrepreneurs: 1; Patent Trolls: 0 - astrec
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/10/entrepreneurs-1.html

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anthonyrubin
While this is good news, it is hardly the end of the matter.

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ivankirigin
If you're at a young startup, I think this means you should immediately stop
thinking about this category of patents. It's really important to not was
cycles when you have so few.

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jcl
While I agree with the sentiment in the article, I think the title is a little
off... Technically, patent trolls _are_ entrepreneurs -- just not very
productive ones.

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cellis
I would not say they are entrepreneurs as much as they are arbitrageurs.
Personally, i find this type of arbitrage quite distasteful but it is legal,
and will eventually come to an end. This is because whenever there is a
loophole, it is the most exploitative and conspicuous arbitrageurs that result
in its closing (think Enron).

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jcl
True, it is arbitrage and it is distasteful. But patent law was designed to
encourage the small inventor, which also happens to allow patent trolls to
operate; I get the impression that most patents used by trolls are bought from
the holdings of failed startups.

I do hope the loophole gets closed, but I also hope it gets closed in the
right way. I'm sure the big patent holders (like Microsoft and IBM) would love
to eliminate trolls by adding a requirement that a patent holder must be using
the patent in a successful product -- with "successful" being defined as some
suitably large number of units per year. This would allow big patent holders
to effectively ignore patents owned by small players, but not the other way
around, which discourages competition and innovation.

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LPTS
entrepreneurs: 1 Patent Trolls: >1

By a lot.

