A New Troll Feeds on Patent Trolls

This has to be one of my favorite stories this year: it seems that patent trolls are the victims of extortion by a new breed of troll (registration required).

Here’s the scenario: a patent trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary.  Cf. NPE, PAE, PME.  See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. files a suit (or suits) and wins a big judgment. Another company then files an [define term=”inter partes review”] petition with the [define term=”PTAB”] against the patent troll’s patent and demands a payoff from the patent trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary.  Cf. NPE, PAE, PME.  See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. in exchange for withdrawing the petition. If the trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary.  Cf. NPE, PAE, PME.  See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. doesn’t pay, it risks losing its patent in the IPRIntellectual Property Rights.  Usually associated with formal legal rights such as patent, trademark, and copyright.  Intellectual property is a broader term that encompasses knowledge, information, and data considered proprietary whether or not it is formally protected..

I would be more upset about this if I could stop laughing, although it’s hardly a positive development. It can’t be good to have more trolls, even if their victims are patent trolls. Unless of course this new twist helps spotlight dysfunctionality in the patent system for the new Congress.

I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes from the great William Shatner in Airplane 2:

Or, a more musical version of the same idea: