Patent Trolls Going After Media Companies; Will That Lead To Real Reform?

from the ink-by-the-bit-barrel dept

The folks at M-CAM have noticed a new trend in patent trolling: trolls are starting to target media companies with patent lawsuits, rather than just tech companies. The M-CAM report, by the way, is done almost entirely in verse, which is quite entertaining. Here's just the very beginning:

Have you seen a troll yet this year?
Speckled, short, inciting fear?
We’ve heard them described as non-practicing entities
But we know “patent troll” is their proper identity.

Technology, it seems, is their favorite sector
The bones they pick, like Hannibal Lecter.
Big tech has had to make sacrifice
Of legal settlements at extravagant price.

The trolls have grown fat from the tolls they’ve collected
They proclaim, “Innovation – it must be protected!”
Though to make or create, they have no intention
Only hopes to profit off other’s creations.
And now they look for new bridges to block
Scouting for more victims whose stocks they can shock.

Of course, while media companies aren't quite as used to dealing with patent lawsuits, and also don't have patent portfolios of their own should they be sued by practicing entities, the one thing they do have is the ability to sway public opinion. It will be interesting to see, as this keeps up, if it backfires on the trolling firms by simply calling more and more attention to some of their practices.

Filed Under: media companies, patent trolls, patents