Study: Patent Trolls Are Still Cleaning Up In Court

Companies that produce no goods and profit by filing copyright suits, often referred to as trolls, took home three times more in damage awards than producing companies over the last few years, according to a study by law firm Goodwin Procter. The median damage award for troll firms was $8.5 million, more than triple the $2.5 million pocketed by other companies. Goodwin Procter lawyer Michael Strapp, who co-authored the firm’s guide to fighting patent trolls, cited legal strategy and notoriously troll-friendly venues as two major factors that allowed the firms to clean up. “[E]ven as patent reform advocates have won some key battles at the Supreme Court, the trolls are still winning the war,” according to Strapp.