First, maintenance fees are very low compared to legal action, and independent of whether the patent is worth $10 or $10B (or you believe it does). So is is ent

First, maintenance fees are very low compared to legal action, and independent of whether the patent is worth $10 or $10B (or you believe it does). So is is entirely unlike a property tax. > The problem with liability being < assessed values is then what's the incentive to work for a licensing deal? If you upload a song you like, and tax has been paid for it as worth $100,000 that year, (which would be $1000/year), and you can license it for $1, then - yes, you have an incentive to license it for $1, because you are otherwise liable for as much as $100,000 (but not more[0]). Think this is stupid? Because under the current law, you are liable for $150,000. That's what the law says, anyway. [0] Except for e.g. willful infringement laws, which would make you pay 3x as much potentially - another answer to your "what's the incentive".