Patent trolls have sucked $500 billion out of US companies so far, Boston University study reveals
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Researchers from Boston University have found out that publicly listed companies have been sued by "non-practicing entities", or the so-called patent trolls, to the tune of $500 billion in settlements since 1990.
The amount is breathtaking for companies that feed on nothing but loopholes. The average comes to about $25 billion per year, but in the last four years that figure has climbed up to $83 billion, so if someone does the same measurement in 2020, we might hit a cool trillion given away to patent trolls in this decade.
The reform bill that the President signed the other day only addresses the first-to-file issue, and doesn't really give long-term solutions to the boatload of unneeded, ambulance-chasing patent lawsuits that only serve to pad lawyers' pockets.
source: ArsTechnica
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9 Comments
1. Mad Iguana (unregistered) posted on 21 Sep 2011, 06:09 0 0
How does $500bn over 21 years (since 1990) equate to an average of $50bn a year?
Am I missing something obvious?
3. som posted on 21 Sep 2011, 07:03 0 0
US President must ban the Patent Wars and be a free World just like auto industries nobody is suing anybody whether they built 2, 3, 4, 6, or 8 wheeler vehicles and packed all the technology inside it.
Rotten Apple it is a free world don't wasted money on lawyers.
4. remixfa posted on 21 Sep 2011, 07:52 0 0
the auto industry isnt a free world. american auto industries are propped up by politicians and tax payers only ford at this point could stand on its own.
if it was a free world chevy and chrysler would have filed chapter 11 and come out as healthy union free/reduced companies that were solvent.. not held upright by our taxes.
7. waveydavey (unregistered) posted on 21 Sep 2011, 11:05 0 1
maybe you misunderstood tha article, which clearly labels patent trolls as non-practicing entities. Apple, as I have said many times on this site, is not a patent troll.
5. Droid_X_Doug posted on 21 Sep 2011, 08:09 0 0
Should large companies be the only ones who can sue for patent infringement? Cause without the trolls, they would be the only ones who could afford the roughly $5+ million it takes to press a patent infringement lawsuit.
8. Zee112 (unregistered) posted on 21 Sep 2011, 14:29 0 0
The problem is NOT large vs small corporations. The problem is companies that MAKE PRODUCTS vs companies that DON'T MAKE ANYTHING BUT OWN PATENTS.
Patent trolls are known for threatening smaller companies that can't afford to go to court and just pay the protection money so they don't get put out of business:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack
9. waveydavey (unregistered) posted on 21 Sep 2011, 16:22 0 0
this was an awesome story. i was flabbergasted when i heard it on npr.
6. Rawrzellers posted on 21 Sep 2011, 09:05 1 0
Maybe I should study law in college. This looks like you could make a really good living. It's not like it's hurting the companies though. They'll just earn it back probably 7 times over the same year.
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