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by Triumvark 5379 days ago
Trolls? Still?

There are a million definitions for 'patent troll,' and all of them stink, capturing some good activity along with the bad.

The problem is the number of junk patents out there (obvious, prior art, etc.).

1 comments

The article defines them: "patent trolls ("non-practicing entity" is the clinical term)".
If NPEs are trolls, that implies 'lacking starting capital' is trollish. Small company locked out of an industry? Troll.

Robert Kearns pitched his wiper system to Ford and Chevy, but they preferred to build it without paying him. "NPE = troll" means he was the villain. (He should have, what, kept his invention secret until he built a rival car company?)

There are several other definitions of 'troll.' Lawyers who own patents. Groups who buy patents from others. All of these catch some sheep with the goats. (I'm leaving these as an exercise for the reader.)

It's far more direct to attack patents rather than people. Attack the patents which are obvious or prior art.

As a bonus to this approach, it smacks less of a sort of blind bigotry against the poor, lawyers, or investors. (Even if you do hate one of those groups, attacking the problematic patents directly affords a way of being discrete about it.)