Intellectual Ventures faces novel attack on patent business

[jes]

Intellectual Ventures faces novel attack on patent business

Intellectual Ventures bought a patent for $750,000. Now it is seeking $310 million in license fees. But companies are fighting back in a legal case that could reshape the patent business.

 

[DJ...]

Surely if this ruling is upheld, it basically sets a precedent that patent valuations cannot increase over time? For all patents...

 

[borga]

Hopefully this will start turning the tide against patent trolls.

What many forget is that those companies who decide to pay these "licensing fees" does not do so because they feel they infringe on the patent, they do so because it is cheaper than fighting multi-million dollar lawsuits. A business does not choose the path that is right but the path that is the cheapest.

This is the same reason why companies paid "protection fees" to the mafia, not because it was fair or just but because it was the cheapest option of the options available to continue doing business.

These trolls who just buy patents and do nothing to help innovation are just abusing the law to extract fees from companies that do the real innovation.

I have heard stories about startup companies where the number of lawyers in employment outnumber those who do the actual start-up work just to be able to protect themselves against patent trolls, that shows that the current patent system is seriously broken as it becomes a cost hindering innovation rather that protecting those who continues to innovate.