Recently, a federal judge has ruled that Google must pay a percentage of their revenues to a tiny company that purchased a group of patents originally filed by Lycos. This is the very definition of a patent troll. An individual or company that uses patents solely as a way of making money from other businesses.
Google is battling patent trolls on many fronts including a large conglomerate called Rockstar, which is backed by Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, and others. These legal wars can affect practically any part of its business, including the very heart of the operation.
Patents fundamentally exist to promote innovation. Patent trolls are ruining patents for everybody, including patent holders and productive non practicing entities. If you’re a patent holder, you should be very concerned about trolls.
Google will obviously appeal the case continuing their long fight against patent trolls. But like so many others across the industry, it doesn’t always win. If you need a patent to help protect your invention idea, please contact us at New Product Consulting.
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