Defending the Patent Troll

Abstract

So-called “patent trolls” have garnered considerable negative press in recent months. Yet the definition of this term is so vague as to render any pejorative attachment essentially meaningless, and the principles and tenets of U.S. patent law make the label nonsensical. Finally, as intellectual property attorney Steve Rubin explains, those entities most commonly thought of as trolls actually contribute much to the state of innovation in this country.