Deep Dive: Software Patents and the Rise of Patent Trolls
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Beloved podcasts like the Adam Carolla Show and HowStuffWorks are under
attack. They and other podcasts are getting sued for, well, podcasting. And
they're not the only victims-developers are being targeted for building
mobile apps, and offices around the nation are being attacked for using
ordinary networked scanners. These creators are only a few of the thousands
of victims of one of the biggest threats to innovation: patent trolls.
Patent trolls are entities that don't create products themselves, but
instead buy patents and make money from lawsuits. Trolls often make broad
claims of infringement based on patents of questionable validity, and most
defendants choose to settle because of the outrageous nature of patent
litigation. It is risky and expensive-and trolls offer settlement amounts
that, although incredibly burdensome, are cheaper than a lawsuit, which can
often cost well into the millions of dollars.
You can also send an email to your representitives and let them know just
how wrong this is from within this article:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02/deep-dive-software-patents-and-rise-patent-trolls