Meaning of patent troll | Babel Free

Definitions

A company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of producing, marketing, or promoting the subjects of the patents.

derogatory, informal

Equivalents

Examples

“On one hand, the new law may intend to enhance the application of new technologies and discourage patent trolls. On the other hand, the new law attempts to further bring the Patent Law in line with the international treaties and laws in other areas (e.g., antimonopoly law).”

“So favorable was the Federal Circuit's treatment of patents, in fact, that reinventing, nonmanufacturing speculators who would acquire one or more patents with a view toward using their leverage to reap large damages awards, leading to the sobriquet, patent "trolls," began to emerge as plaintiffs who would often put entire industries in patent peril. Thus was born (or became more common) the "patentee" who neither invented nor practiced the subject matter of its invention, but rather, sought to profit by licensing its patent under the threat of litigation, injunctive relief and substantial damages in the propatent climate that the Federal Circuit's views had created.”

“Most companies are reluctant to get the best return on their most valuable assets. [...] Being publicly branded a patent "troll" adds to the turmoil. Patent trolls are controversial not because of the destruction attributed to them, but because they strike at the heart of the complex relationship between innovation and commerce. The term has become synonymous with the unfair assertion of IP rights and extortion of damage payments.”

“Recently, firms that specialize in acquiring patents purely for litigation—often derided as ‘patent trolls’ by the targets of their lawsuits—have emerged as significant players in some technology markets.”

“During the early 21st century, a number of patent and licensing enforcement companies (PLECs), more commonly referred to as "patent trolls," emerged. Their only business is to acquire patents and then sue infringers.”

“The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.”

“Because software patents can cover vast areas of territory, they are the weapon of choice for "patent trolls": people or companies that hold patents but make no products, and bring patent-infringement lawsuits against companies that do make products, offering to settle for less than the cost of fighting the suit.”

CEFR level