patent trolling
Licensing threat exploitation
Patent trolling is the practice of acquiring patents not to develop products but to extract licensing fees or lawsuit settlements from companies that allegedly infringe them.
The troll—often a shell company—threatens expensive litigation, betting that targets will pay rather than fight.
Tech companies spend millions annually defending against patent trolling.
- lawfareWeaponized legal proceedings
- shakedownForceful extraction of payment
- legal threatsWarnings of potential lawsuits
- cease and desistLegal order to stop
- lawsuitCivil court proceeding
infringement · shell companies · holding company · chilling effect · papering · enforcement · sharp practice · legal loopholes · opportunism · trademark infringement · licensing fees · exclusive rights · intellectual property · court rulings · legal precedents · prior art · profit maximization · discovery process
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
- corporate crimescorporate fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, price fixing, embezzlement
- corporate practicesmerger, acquisition, takeover, buyout, layoff
- dirty moneydirty money, ill-gotten gains, illicit funds, illicit gains, proceeds of crime
- exploitationexploit, predatory, sex trafficking, take advantage, human trafficking
- legal misconductobstruction, perjury, contempt, jury tampering, evidence tampering
patent trollingopen source
Publicly accessible code
creative commons · open standards · copyleft · cross-licensing
patent, troll, patents, patented, patenting, patentee, patentable, unpatentable, trolls