

The Patent Troll - TriinT
http://www.good.is/post/the-patent-troll/

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elecengin
I sometimes think that patent trolls are just the scapegoat for larger issues
at hand. Patent trolls are simply acting upon their rights with issued
patents. In many cases, the patent trolling is not what is absurd - it is the
patents. Patents that really never should have issued.

We have a IP culture in the United States where patents are distributed very
freely and with minimal review. This generally isnt a problem because
litigation is the "nuclear button" of IP enforcement - it costs 1million+ for
both sides even to start. So, as long as everyone just uses patents are
trading cards everything is fine. Companies routinely start new enterprises
without a prior art search... because they do not expect anyone to actually
_litigate_.

When the absurd patents go to litigation, though, it becomes painfully clear
how broad and abusive the patents in question were in the first place. Big
companies are embarrassed and emptied of their money because they _did_
infringe.

The USPTO must become more selective when issuing patents, and companies must
own up to the fact that they are responsible for infringement, no matter who
owns the patent or if they are an NPE or not.

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kragen
This is a good article!

What does HN think about the term "patent pirates" for these people? Like
maritime pirates, they use threats to extort money from people engaged in
legitimate businesses, while carrying out no productive activity of their own.

I think that in the next few years, the markets for patents he describes will
make the US a substantially worse place to try to carry out innovation or sell
an innovative product. They're pretty much inevitable, because the economic
value of a patent held by a patent pirate is much greater than the economic
value of a patent held by a productive enterprise that is vulnerable to a
patent countersuit.

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emontero1
I concur with you. _Pirate_ is definitely a more pertinent term. Patent trolls
recklessly attack companies in hopes of finding some good loot. What they're
doing may not be illegal, but it's ethically murky at best.

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lucraft
For some reason this article made me make a mental connection between the
looters in Atlas Shrugged and patent trolls. Both use government licenses to
extort money from productive organizations.

The absurdity of some software patents, which are analogous to patenting a new
legal argument or a particular sentence structure no one has used before,
means I have to live outside of the law in order to do what I love: writing
software.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Of course these "productive organizations" often also have portfolios of
patents that they use to prevent small businesses entering their market. And
they often spin-off separate companies to act as patent trolls. The whole
thing is rotten but to many people profit from it for it to change any time
soon.

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anamax
Remind me - how are folks who invent things supposed to make a living? One
answer is "they're not". Another is "salary". Another is "start a company". Of
course, combinations are possible.

