"With NPEs, you can't sue them which is what makes them particularly scary because you have no real defense against them," said Amster, adding that roughly 16 percent of all patent litigation is associated with these entities. Asked to elaborate on why the NPEs can't be sued, Amster said "they don't do anything."
Ahh trolls. Buying tomorrow to keep it from happening. Almost like shorting the future. That's eye opening that we're coming up on 1 in 5 of all patent cases being troll related.
I wish these guys luck, I think. I just wonder what (really) happens if you're not paying your $35,000/year (the "startup" price) and you happen to use a technology that sounds kind of like a patent that's in the trust that IBM is also using.
I can't see a difference in business model between the two. Both are buying threatening patents off the market on behalf of their "investors". Both claim they will not sue people over the patents -- that they'll only be used defensively.
It's only a matter of time before the member companies realize that this "patent protection racket" is just as bad as the trolls were. The only benefit is that they extract their fees slowly instead of in lump sums, so they are easier to budget for.
This is the same business model as the mafia: pay us and cede power to us, and we'll protect you. The danger being, of course, that you have no guarantee they won't turn on you.
Ahh trolls. Buying tomorrow to keep it from happening. Almost like shorting the future. That's eye opening that we're coming up on 1 in 5 of all patent cases being troll related.
I wish these guys luck, I think. I just wonder what (really) happens if you're not paying your $35,000/year (the "startup" price) and you happen to use a technology that sounds kind of like a patent that's in the trust that IBM is also using.