patent troll
Syllables: pat·ent troll/ˈpætənt ˌtɹəʊl/US/ˈpætənt ˌtɹoʊl/
patent troll noun: a company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of producing, marketing, or promoting the subjects of the patents.
Noun
patent troll (plural patent trolls)
- A company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of producing, marketing, or promoting the subjects of the patents.
- On one hand, the new law may intend to enhance the application of new technologies and discourage patent trolls. On the other hand, the new law attempts to further bring the Patent Law in line with the international treaties and laws in other areas (e.g., antimonopoly law).1990, William P. Streng, Allen D. Wilcox, editors, Doing Business in China: (People’s Republic of China), volume 2, New York, N.Y.: Matthew Bender, →ISBN, page 278
- So favorable was the Federal Circuit's treatment of patents, in fact, that reinventing, nonmanufacturing speculators who would acquire one or more patents with a view toward using their leverage to reap large damages awards, leading to the sobriquet, patent "trolls," began to emerge as plaintiffs...1992, Roger M. Milgrim, Milgrim on Trade Secrets, volume 2, Newark, N.J.: LexisNexis, →ISBN
patent troll meaning in Arabic and Persian
patent troll in Arabic
- company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner
- تصيد براءات الاختراع
patent troll in Persian
- company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner
- پتنت ترول
Examples of patent troll in a sentence
- Patent trolls are controversial not because of the destruction attributed to them, but because they strike at the heart of the complex relationship between innovation and commerce.2006, Bruce [M.] Berman, “Roadblocks or Building Blocks?”, in Bruce Berman, editor, Making Innovation Pay: People Who Turn IP into...
- During the early 21st century, a number of patent and licensing enforcement companies (PLECs), more commonly referred to as "patent trolls," emerged.2008, Lindsay Moore, Lesley Craig, “The Law in Flux”, in Intellectual Capital in Enterprise Success: Strategy Revisited, Hoboken, N.J....
- Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from...
Forms of patent troll
| plural | patent trolls |
|---|
Origin of patent troll
From patent + troll (“in folklore, a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills, or under bridges”), a reference to trolls in folktales who block the path of travellers or threaten to harm them unless some payment is made.
Words formed from patent troll
Questions about patent troll
- What does patent troll mean?
- Patent troll means a company, person, etc., that owns and enforces patents in an aggressive and opportunistic manner, often with no intention of producing, marketing, or promoting the subjects of the patents.
- What is patent troll in Arabic?
- Patent troll in Arabic is تصيد براءات الاختراع. See Patent troll meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use patent troll in a sentence?
- Patent trolls are controversial not because of the destruction attributed to them, but because they strike at the heart of the complex relationship between innovation and commerce.
- What part of speech is patent troll?
- Patent troll is a noun.
- How do you pronounce patent troll?
- Patent troll is pronounced /ˈpætənt ˌtɹəʊl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of patent troll?
- The plural of patent troll is patent trolls.
Words near patent troll in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: patent troll (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “patent troll.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/patent_troll. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.