James M. Singer was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, "Patent Trolls Can Be Bad for Business." Full text can be found in the April 15, 2014, issue, but a synopsis is noted below.
Patent trolls, companies that file or purchase large numbers of patents and then file lawsuits or demand fees against infringing companies, can prove to be a big problem for fledgling businesses, especially those in the tech sector.
"They're like aggregators, who collect patents with the idea of exacting a toll from an industry," said James Singer. "They're known as trolls because of some of the tactics they use."
States are beginning to get wise to patent trolls, more kindly referred to as nonpracticing entities, with some states attempting to change the process for handling such cases.
"They are being more skeptical," Singer said.
Not all suits fighting patent infringements are trollish in nature, Singer noted.
"It's important to know what it means to patent technology, and what the risks are," he said.
Originally published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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