In an article for U.S. News & World Report, Benjamin J. Hodges explained the drag some patent trolls have on innovation and the drain of overreaching claims on businesses.
Although there are some valuable economic services non-practicing entities, sometimes referred to as patent trolls, may serve, Hodges explains that “a drag on innovation occurs when an entity overreaches any realistic view of a patent’s claims or enforces a patent that clearly should not be valid.”
When it comes to smaller companies, he added “those businesses generally do not have the luxury of profuse resources to fight out of principle, so they take the financial hit to their business to pay off a patent troll with a relatively small amount of money.” However, he noted these expenses divert money that could have been spent on employee salaries or research and development.
Read the full article on U.S. News & World Report to learn more about how patent trolls work and what can be done about them.
