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<<< Patent trolls get paid because short-sighted companies make the decision to pay. Simply put, it is usually cheaper in the short run to pay a troll than it
by ElonMuskrat 7y ago
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Patent trolls get paid because short-sighted companies make the decision to pay. Simply put, it is usually cheaper in the short run to pay a troll than it is to litigate. It is also cheaper to give a schoolyard bully your lunch money than it is to visit a doctor. The thing is, once you pay the bully, he’ll just come back again and again and again. Eventually, that lunch money adds up to a lot more than a doctor’s visit. In the long run the best way to deal with a bully is to punch him square in the face. You might take a beating, but if you do it every time? The bully will find easier prey.
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This is very naive. Patent trolls get paid because they are highly effective at weaponizing the legal system.
- javajosh 7y agoAlso, the small fees paid to the bully is spread out over the victims. The large fee required to stop the bully in that instance is also spread out across all victims. So each victim is computing "small < large" not "10x small > large". The latter may be true for the attacker, but unless the victims band together, it's not true for the defenders. This is the perniciousness of the petty injustice. It's the small fees, the little charges, the nickels and dimes that we all ignore because life is too short, and they add up to great fortunes. It's wrong and should be illegal, but that's how the world works right now.
- ScottBurson 7y agoYou must not be aware of Newegg's success in defending themselves against patent trolls. They demonstrated that stonewalling can pay off.
- David_Greene 7y agoCost to defend yourself is not much south of one million US.
- unicornmama 7y agoThe plural of anecdote is not data.