> This patent troll is an NPE, which is usually (along with, you know, suing) the defining trait of patent trolldom.
Look at Goodyear. He was an NPE. He invented vulcanized rubber. Never saw a dime. They even stole his name and built a company around it. He didn't have the resources to sue.
Look at Robert Kearns. He was an NPE. He sued. It destroyed his life.
There's no special qualification to come up with an idea. Patenting is a painful process. But it's a way to protect yourself. Just because people are involved in a lawsuit doesn't say or mean anything.
Regardless, this company is not an NPE. They have a working implementation of their secure messaging patent that is available on the app store.
> In what way is it "doing harm" to the patent system?
It's doing harm by framing inventors as villains rather than innovators. You've judged this company based on no other information than that they are referred to as patent trolls in an online article. If it's that easy for a large company to quell innovators, then the purpose of patents in the first place - to foster innovation - is gone.
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Regardless the verbiage is frequently inappropriate and certainly in this instance.
Look at Goodyear. He was an NPE. He invented vulcanized rubber. Never saw a dime. They even stole his name and built a company around it. He didn't have the resources to sue.
Look at Robert Kearns. He was an NPE. He sued. It destroyed his life.
There's no special qualification to come up with an idea. Patenting is a painful process. But it's a way to protect yourself. Just because people are involved in a lawsuit doesn't say or mean anything.
Regardless, this company is not an NPE. They have a working implementation of their secure messaging patent that is available on the app store.
> In what way is it "doing harm" to the patent system?
It's doing harm by framing inventors as villains rather than innovators. You've judged this company based on no other information than that they are referred to as patent trolls in an online article. If it's that easy for a large company to quell innovators, then the purpose of patents in the first place - to foster innovation - is gone.
--- Regardless the verbiage is frequently inappropriate and certainly in this instance.