The scope of the patents acquired by the trolls is usually not clear, often their descriptions are vague and the patents are difficult to locate in databases, as it is not clear what exactly protection has been sought for.
A research has been conducted at Boston University in the United States, studying more than 1600 court cases (of which 62% were software disputes) dealing with patent infringement. It emerged that patent trolls were mainly targeting software developers whose aim is to develop technology.
The study showed that over the last 20 years, patent trolls have caused the US economy more than 500 billion dollars’ worth of damage. This conclusion was reached by comparing stock market prices between the years 1990-2010, in order to determine how much the business value of companies sued for patent infringement had decreased. The damages for each company involved in such a court case amounted to an average of 122 million dollars.
Thus, patent trolls are taking advantage of the drawbacks of the patent system, rather than aiming to develop technology, and they cause considerable damage to the economy.
Source: Intellectual Property Magazine |
