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:
“The cigar-box which the European calls a lift needs but to be compared with our elevators to be appreciated. The lift stops to reflect between floors. That is all right in a hearse, but not in elevators. The American elevator acts like the mans patent purgeit works”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910)
“We took one look round,
Then sank out of sight like trolls underground....”
—Robert Frost (18741963)