“Patent troll” is a pejorative term. A more neutral term is a “Non-practicing entity” or NPE. An NPE is a company that sells no products or services of its own. In their most controversial form, NPEs purchase patents on the open market and then assert them against operating companies, like AT&T and Google, seeking licensing fees and, often, suing to get them.
According to RPX’s statistics—which have been relied upon by academics and government agencies—NPEs filed 3,608 new suits in 2013, up 19% from the 3,042 they filed in 2012.
AT&T was sued 54 times in 2013, Google was hit with 43 suits last year; Verizon , 42; Apple 41; Samsung and Amazon, 39 each; Dell and Sony, 34 each; Huawei, 32; Blackberry, 31.
Some NPE defenders argue that giant tech corporations regularly hijack inventions from independent inventors, and NPE gave finance and litigation support and financial aid to defend their Intellectual Property Rights. NPE not only served small investors but also the entire society helping vindication of peoples rights.
Are then NPE non profit organizations with very expensive structural costs?
Note: PatentFreedom defines an NPE as any company that derives the majority of its income from licensing patents. Some of the NPEs listed, like Tessera, also invest in research and development. In august 2013 they had identified and profiled over 710 different NPEs. Patent Freedom was acquired by RPX Corporation in June 2014.