As Research In Motion continues to explore any and all options that might help carry it through the next two quarters until it finally launches its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone and beyond, one option reportedly on the table is patent trolling. RIM recently hired law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to explore a number of possible paths it might take in the near term and the long term as its struggles continue, and according to Techdirt, one of those options is to take a more aggressive stance ...

Following a long history at the forefront of the wireless industry, Nokia holds more than 30,000 patent licenses and applications. On Thursday, the Finnish vendor’s portfolio was confirmed to be slightly lighter as patent troll Sisvel International announced that it had acquired more than 450 Nokia patents. According to the Italy-based patent licensing firm, more than 350 of the patents it acquired from Nokia are essential to wireless standards. ”Sisvel has been extremely active in recent years w...

According to The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls, a new study published by the Boston University School of Law, patent trolls are responsible for $500 billion of “lost wealth” between 1990 and 2010, and for a decline in innovation. The study defines patents trolls as “firms that license patents without producing goods,” otherwise known as non-practicing entities. The researchers have found patent trolls, typically smaller firms, often sue large companies for technology patent...

During his Embedded System Conference Silicon Valley keynote recently, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak took some time to rag on Paul Allen’s decision to sue Apple, Google, and other companies over patent infringement. “Paul Allen should be out there investing in companies that are doing something, making products, actually making a new future for the world, and not ‘I’m going to sue people, and get in bed with the lawyers to make my money.’ That’s not the right way,” W...

Before you get uppity about having us call Klausner Technologies a patent troll, consider what they’ve been doing since their invention of the PDA: Suing everyone under the sun who has used visual voicemail. What else can you do when you’re no more than a one-hit wonder and your cheap Flash website offers nothing more than visual voicemail licensing information (which does nothing but give you their email address for inquiries)? After being successful with their suits against AT&T, Apple, and ...