Behind the patent "problem": trolls with patents or free-riders without patents?

From within The Myth Of the Wicked Patent Troll



There is one basic reason behind the attacks on trolls: Big Money. Many patent-intensive products—the smartphone in your pocket, the laptop computer in your briefcase—are produced by big corporations that license many patents. The iPhone is a classic example: It contains thousands of patented components, but Apple does not own many of the key ones. It must negotiate for the right to use them. These corporations can make higher profits the less they pay to use patented technology they do not own, and higher profits still by paying nothing at all.