IPWatchdog: Bad Patents, Patent Trolls, and the PR Campaign Created to Excuse Infringement by Coke Morgan Stewart
There’s a curious double standard in the way we talk about intellectual property (IP) in America.
When someone copies a copyrighted work without permission, we recognize that the creator has rights. Copyright infringement can even carry criminal penalties. When someone steals another person’s property, we call it theft, and criminal penalties can follow. But when a company uses someone else’s patented invention without permission, the patent owner who tries to stop it is often portrayed as the villain.