What is Patent troll?
A '''patent troll''' is an unkind [[phrase]] used to describe a [[company]] or [[person]] that owns a [[patent]] and tries to get other people to pay a lot of [[money]] for the right to use the patent. The patent troll usually asks for an amount of money that is less than defending a [[lawsuit]]. A patent troll is different from other patent owners for two reasons. First, the patent troll usually does not make or sell any [[product (consumer goods)|products]] itself. Second, a patent troll is also not usually the [[inventor]]. The patent troll instead [[buy]]s the patent from other companies, and, usually, very cheap because the other company was going out of business. Patent trolls make a lot of people [[Happiness|unhappy]] because the money paid is a lot like a [[tax]]. The term [[troll]] itself is meant to invoke the image from [[fairy tale]]s of a mean [[monster]] living under a [[bridge]] that makes people pay to cross the bridge. {{stub}} [[Category:Intellectual property law]]