> I'd think a more reasonable approach could be, you have a patent for [duration] or until the patent holder makes some multiple dollar amount from things that

> I'd think a more reasonable approach could be, you have a patent for [duration] or until the patent holder makes some multiple dollar amount from things that use whatever is patented. I don't think this can work in practice. How much money has amazon made off the 1-click patent? If a company patents a new machine that lets them run a factory on half the workers, how much money does that make them? Even for devices, this seems sketchy. What percent of revenue counts towards the patent? Is the $100 kindle $100 towards the e-ink patent, or $20, or $5? If the device has 50 patents on various components, is the revenue counted 50x for them, or is the cost divided between them? I think that enough patents are on internal processes and machines that revenue won't be directly tied to, i.e. on things that aren't consumer goods, that this sort of strategy won't help.