A “software licensing troll” is a term coined by Michael Corey and Dean Bolton, cofounder and chief architect of LicenseFortress, in collaboration with Art Beeman and Joel Muchmore of Beeman and Muchmore. We recognized it as the natural evolution of the “patent troll”—a concept that emerged in the 1990s.
A patent troll is a business or entity that acquires patents—often vague or overly broad—and uses infringement claims to secure legal judgments or out-of-court settlements for profit, leveraging the patent system far beyond its intended purpose.
During a fireside hangout on Google, President Barack Obama summed it up perfectly:
“These rogue figures and organizations fail to produce anything of value themselves. They’re just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else’s idea and see if they can extort some money out of them.”
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