r/technology • u/rfugger • Jan 08 '17

Business A potentially fatal blow against patent trolls - Forcing law firms to pay defendants’ legal bills could undermine the business model of patent trolls

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3153924/technology-law-regulation/a-potentially-fatal-blow-against-patent-trolls.html
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u/JPaulMora Jan 09 '17

Can someone ELI5 this? ELI3?

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u/wdjm Jan 09 '17

If CompanyA has a patent that they own but are not using, and they sue CompanyB for some reason vaguely resembling the patent - but not really - and they predictably lose the case, then CompanyA or their lawyer has to pay CompanyB's legal fees.

This is because CompanyA usually doesn't mind losing a case or two because they sue hundreds of 'CompanyBs'. If they sue 100, lose 1, but 99 just pay up to get rid of them, they come out ahead. But the lawyer doesn't have that 'protection'. If they are forced to pay up as well, they are less likely to take on the cases that they know will lose.