Patent Trolls
A long standing argument against patents is that they may hinder innovation and give rise to "troll" entities. A holding company, pejoratively known as a "patent troll", owns a portfolio of patents, and sues others for infringement of these patents while doing little to develop the technology itself.
Read more about this topic: Societal Views On Patents
Famous quotes containing the words patent and/or trolls:
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We took one look round,
Then sank out of sight like trolls underground....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)