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Myths in management
Yet, since competitors do the same, as a result, researchers have
long noticed that patents have become sort of a corporate
currency. How does this work? Well, whatever you want to do, in
terms of developing a new product or technology, you’re bound
to infringe on someone’s patent. Luckily, that someone is likely
to need to infringe on some of your patents too. Rather than
going to court, rms usually strike a deal: “I will forgive you
for infringing on these 84 patents if you just absolve me from
infringing on 63 of yours”. And this system generally works quite
well.
However, given the plethora of patents in such industries, the
difculty is that you seldom know in advance exactly which
patents you will be infringing on; there are just too many of
them lying around. What has now happened is that some
specialized rms – the infamous “patent sharks” – have started
taking advantage of this. They acquire patents not with the
intention of using them, but with the aim to extort money from
the unknowing infringers.
When a patent shark nds out that a certain rm is using a
technology which more or less falls under one of its patents,
it waits patiently until that rm has fully committed itself
to the technology (and has incorporated it in its products,
marketed them, made additional investments, etc.). Then the
shark surfaces . . .
It will demand large sums of money for the infringement. If the
rm refuses, they will roar “court action!” and threaten to shut
them down. And the nice thing – at least, for the shark – is that
the patent doesn’t even have to be a really good one. Even if it
is only a half-decent patent, with little chance of holding up in
court, they can often convince a judge to issue an injunction,
forcing the rm to suspend business pending the court’s decision.
And this can be so potentially disastrous for the rm that it
quickly coughs up the dough to make the shark go away.
For example, NTP, a pure patent-holding company, led a suit
against RIM, the producer of the best-selling BlackBerry. RIM
was condent that the ve patents NTP was throwing at them