The ABA Journal has an interesting article about an anonymous blogger that criticizes alleged patent trolls. One of the accused patent trolls is so frustrated that they are offering $10,000 for the blogger's identity.
For those not familiar with the term, Wikipedia explains that Patent Troll is a pejorative term used for a person or company that focuses solely on enforcing patent rights in an aggressive or opportunistic manner, despite having no research or manufacturing base. Umm, yeah. Basically they buy patents and threaten to sue suspected infringers if they don't pay up.
Sometimes the threats are legitimate cases of infringement, while others are tenuous and exist only to nag another business into settling.
A patent's exclusive monopoly is one of the primary incentives for promoting innovation. When patent trolls exploit the enforcement aspect of the patent without any promise of future innovation, the justification for granting an exclusive monopoly vanishes. Maybe I'm overstating the case, but based on intuition alone this cannot be what the framers envisioned.
Perhaps it is possible that the original inventor was compensated through the sale of the patent and this researcher might continue to innovate, but it's not guaranteed. Moreover, focusing only on enforcement may be an efficient solution, but it ignores "smart" business decisions where a legitimate business might permit some infringement if it benefits them. Not to mention the inventor has an incentive to improve the design of the original patent and continue the stream of creation. Patent Trolls don't innovate because they are focused on the narrow enforcement aspect of patent law.
Patent issues aside, the bounty over Troll Tracker's head is troublesome because it may chill the valuable information it provides (and others like it). The justification for the bounty is that the author should stand behind their words, because only then can we properly frame the information.
I don't buy it. I think it's an excuse to launch a defamation lawsuit. As one of the comments on the ABA article points out, anonymity is a rich American tradition, starting with the Federalist Papers, and including the famous Deep Throat. I say keep the information flowing Mr./Ms. Troll Tracker.
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