MSNBC on the patent predators:
While most technology companies make money by developing software, building hardware or providing services, Forgent Networks Inc. has taken a different route: It produces threats and lawsuits that try to cash in on ideas.
Forgent and other companies with similar strategies — often called “patent trolling” by critics — amass intellectual property portfolios and file suits against other businesses, accusing them of infringement.
With a skeleton crew of 30 employees and the help of a law firm, Forgent has built a business out of suing — or threatening to sue — companies, even though it offers no related products and does no development of the technology itself.
What was that about how patents protect creators and support innovation? Anyone who has seen firsthand how Microsoft systematically obliterates the true innovators knows how specious the logic of IP is, at least in the software world.
There’s no question that what Forgent is doing is legal, the question is whether the present system aids or detracts from encouraging technological advancement and economic growth.