[tomnipotent]

No, words need to mean something. Patent troll is an organization that buys up patents just to enforce them while not actually using the patent itself within its own business model.

Microsoft is a patent gorilla, but it's not a troll.

[everybodyknows]

Indeed. Patent lawyers use "troll" as a synonym for "NPE" -- Non-Practicing Entity:

https://patentlyo.com/patent/2013/03/guest-editorial-throwin...

An NPE by definition produces nothing but patent enforcement actions.

[mschuetz]

I'd count anyone who wields trivial patents, or patents where previous work exixts and which should not have been granted in the first place, a patent troll too.

[tomnipotent]

How do you feel about the patent for compact discs? James Russell invented the technology along with prototypes but never put it into production first-hand, electing instead to license the technology to other companies. There's no debating that companies profited handsomely from putting this technology into the consumer market. It built off prior work (LaserDisc) and the patent holder was a non-practicing entity (as someone else pointed out in this thread).