Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Does licensing from smaller actors happens much in practice? It feels to me as there is a huge asymmetry of the ability of corps either infringing the patent directly, or circumventing it vs an individuals budget for infringement discovery and lawyers. I wonder even if bigger players like universities have much success in licensing their IP.



Yes, it does, but it often needs at least an implied threat of a lawsuit or some extra deliverables that help implementation of the technology.

Patents also turn "I got crushed by Google" stories into legal battles done by patent trolls that often have a decent payoff.


I guess if you have a patent and a big corp infringes it, then a patent troll would be more than willing to buy it from you.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: