Column: Fighting back against patent trolls

In recent years, patent trolls have been a hot topic in the intellectual property arena. Sometimes known by the less pejorative terms of patent assertion entities (PAEs) or non-practicing entities (NPEs), a patent troll is an entity that owns a portfolio of patents and generates revenue by collecting licensing fees, cash settlements or monetary damages through litigation or negotiations. 

PAEs do not manufacture or sell any products and exist only to enforce intellectual property rights against those that do. PAEs are often viewed as anti-competitive because they drive up costs of doing business without providing any market value.

source:

https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2018/07/03/column-fighting-back-against-patent-trolls.html