Many of the troll cases actually do trace back to a small time inventor, very often a failed small startup. They then sell their patents to various intermediaries which winds up in the hands of a ‘troll.’ So the original inventor does get paid, even if it’s an NPE doing the actual litigation against the big companies. The reason these trolls are so abhorrent is that they seek to maximize their economic value in the patent by trying to extend it as far as they can go, which gives them a bad reputation, but they play an important role in the system which can reward small time inventors. Big companies don’t really buy patents from small inventors any more, so the only route to monetization for an invention is through NPEs.

I would also not be surprised if they paid the inventors as little as they can get away with and ended up with more “income” than they pass along.

Yes, that is generally how investments work. Companies determined to spend more money than they are able to make off of patents might have exist, but not for long.

As someone who pays attention but does not proactively search out patent litigation information most of the time, I would say it’s rare. The most benefit I see for smaller collectives is:

- Patenting an idea that’s core to their business. Doesn’t really prevent immediate attacks from clones, but it does make it much easier for them to get funding from VCs. - Inventors who license the ideas: they patent, then contact manufacturers.

Note: These are not really software-specific as I’m not aware of any software cases where patents benefit smaller businesses.

I think you meant patents, unless your country is strangely unproductive and/or critically in danger of dying out ;)