Patent Troll: The worst type of “infringement”
The patent system exists as a way to ensure the incentive and protection to not only the inventors but also their patents. In theory, by exchanging a novel invention to society, the inventors are granted with a 20 years monopoly along with certain incentives as a bonus for their contribution. Yet the system has been exploited with harm intention, such as securing the patent monopoly without any intention of using. Such as action can be called “Patent troll”.
What is a troll?
In short, troll is a mythic creature that is described to be living mostly under the bridge or empty road. Its behavior is believed to be a predator, with its prey are unlucky traveler along the road. It often ambushes traveler for their valuables. Technically, you can call them bandit, it would not be too much of a different.
So, what exactly is patent troll? From the short definition above, we can understand that Patent trolls are entities that “rob” the rights to use patents from others.
What does a patent troll do?
You cannot really rob anyone if you have nothing to threaten them with. A patent troll uses patent as a legal weapon to threaten other entities and force them to pay for the patents those entities used.
Patent Troll: The worst type of “infringement”
Worst thing is that the act of “patent troll” is completely legal. The process of patent trolling should be like this:
- The patent troll should acquire the patent by buying from company that struggles with finance who are looking to monetize what resources that they got left.
- The patent troll threatens any entities that use the patent that it has acquired earlier, and if the threatening does not work out, patent troll is willing to bring the case to the court.
- Since it is totally legal, the patent troll often secures a win in its palm.
Some may argue that because of the sued party’s fault that patent trolls are able to exploit the systems, but it is not always the case. Due to the patent covering system, the Patent Office has a habit of issuing patents for ideas that neither new nor revolutionary. Thus, the patent pool can be very broad, covering everyday or even commonsense types of technology; counting from simple computing, to basic manufacturing procedure.
With that in mind, the sued parties most often are big tech like Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. They are the most lucrative for patent troll to prey upon. Even if they have a strong legal team on their side, they cannot cover every single patent that they might have used. Thus, the flaw and the exploitation go on.
Can a prey “strike” back?
The answer is yes, they totally can, but it is less likely to happen.
A patent litigation is extremely expensive, which makes it better if sued party opt to pay the fee instead.
The thing is that to pursue and “prove” it innocent, it would take the sued party tons of time and resources, which sometimes is often much higher than the licensing fee the troll wanted. Not to mention that the patent litigation is extremely expensive, around millions of dollars per suit. Thus, instead of pursuing the case to the very end, most companies will opt to pay the fee to end the matter quickly. The fee can range from tens of thousands or even millions of dollars.
For those who refuses to pay the fee, well that where’s the fun for patent troll starts. Because of their objection in paying licensing fee, the patent troll shall start the lawsuit. The patent litigation has already cost a lot, and if the sued company loses, they still have to pay the licensing fee along with the court fee. Even if the result is different, which the patent troll loses, the sued party still loses a lot while covering the patent litigation fee.
That is why most company opt to pay the fee even if they believe the patent is bogus or their product did not infringe.
What harm does patent troll cause?
Well since patent troll “weaponizes” the patent, it does not contribute anything in particular to the society. A weapon’s purpose is to “steal” life away from others, eventually.
In this case, the patent troll feasts on its monopoly of the patent to hunt down the other companies’ profits. Since they have no intention of using such patent for new products or new ideas, they contribute nothing to the society. Even worse is that by the act of “trolling patent”, they also restrict other from using their patent with good will. This ultimately creates a loophole in which good will is harmed and bad will is rewarded.
Summary
In short, patent troll is the act of weaponizing patent, robbing the rights to use and profit from patent users. A patent troll exploits the flaw of the patent and court system to earn profits without having the intention of producing new ideas or products, this ultimately slows down the revolution cycle.
Most of the case, patent trolls happen in the US, but not in the Europe, because Europe courts regulates that those who lose in the court have to cover all the court fees of the two parties, which make it “less” lucrative for patent troll. But if a patent troll is certain of its victory in the court, it is willing to start the lawsuit. Apple cases with the OpTis is one prime example, in which Apple refuses to pay nearly $7 billion, and Apple may have to leave the UK market after the lawsuit, costing Apple one of its biggest markets globally.
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