

Start-Up Takes on 'Patent Trolls' - lnguyen
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122749448645752369.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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noonespecial
_"With NPEs, you can't sue them which is what makes them particularly scary
because you have no real defense against them," said Amster, adding that
roughly 16 percent of all patent litigation is associated with these entities.
Asked to elaborate on why the NPEs can't be sued, Amster said "they don't do
anything."_

Ahh trolls. Buying tomorrow to keep it from happening. Almost like shorting
the future. That's eye opening that we're coming up on 1 in 5 of all patent
cases being troll related.

I wish these guys luck, I think. I just wonder what (really) happens if you're
not paying your $35,000/year (the "startup" price) and you happen to use a
technology that sounds kind of like a patent that's in the trust that IBM is
also using.

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noonespecial
Want to read the article, but its behind a subscription wall.

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lnguyen
Sorry about that. I went through Google News and got the whole article.

Just do a search on RPX
[http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&...](http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=rpx&ie=UTF-8)

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bayareaguy
Intersting idea, but what's to prevent RPX from changing its model down the
line and selling its portfolio to Intellectual Ventures?

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jcl
I can't see a difference in business model between the two. Both are buying
threatening patents off the market on behalf of their "investors". Both claim
they will not sue people over the patents -- that they'll only be used
defensively.

It's only a matter of time before the member companies realize that this
"patent protection racket" is just as bad as the trolls were. The only benefit
is that they extract their fees slowly instead of in lump sums, so they are
easier to budget for.

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scott_s
This is the same business model as the mafia: pay us and cede power to us, and
we'll protect you. The danger being, of course, that you have no guarantee
they won't turn on you.

