So there's two uses for patents. One is to keep others from doing what you're doing. The second is to keep anyone else from getting a patent on it, and then u

So there's two uses for patents. One is to keep others from doing what you're doing. The second is to keep anyone else from getting a patent on it, and then using it to keep you from doing what you're doing. This could be (currently) used in the second way. ("Defensive" patent, as it is sometimes called.) The problem is that patents can change hands, and in the hands of a troll, this patent could be a problem.