US Patent Trolling Costs $29 Billion a Year 130
New submitter Bismillah writes "This piece of research from Boston University seems to put an end to claims that patent trolling is 'socially valuable,' and instead is a social loss. 'We estimate that firms accrued $29 billion of direct costs in 2011. Moreover, although large firms accrued over half of direct costs, most of the defendants were small or medium-sized firms, indicating that [non-practicing entities] are not just a problem for large firms.' The total cost to society could be around $80 billion, according to the researchers. What's more, the costs have gone up fourfold since 2005."
No, really? (Score:5, Funny)
Frosty Piss (Score:0, Funny)
Patent trolling not nearly as fun as trolling /.
Fact
That's a lot (Score:5, Funny)
The patent trolling industry is worth £29 billion a year??? We must protect this vital industry - just think of the loss to the economy if anything happened to it.
whats good for the goose (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Now he gets to be the bully (Score:5, Funny)
Former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold, who now heads up the controversial Intellectual Ventures patent rights company, told the All Things Digital conference two weeks ago that "I was never a popular kid in class".
"I'm not going to be popular in this class."
Maybe if he spent $250 and bought a freakin vowel he'd have a better shot.