We all know about the possibility of finding coal in our stockings due to being on the “bad list” and we have all heard of the Grinch and his devious plan to rob Christmas and even a few of us have had an Ebenezer Scrooge as a boss but this year’s Christmas culprit could come in the form of a “troll”.
This lack of spending is due to our struggling economy, but piggy-backing on the economies broken back are unnecessary hikes in product prices forced upon businesses by “patent trolls”.
Patent trolls are, simply, companies who look to buy patents off from bankrupt or struggling businesses or firms for the sole purpose of targeting bigger and more successful businesses that have a product or service that has infringed upon their patent in order to bring a lawsuit against them.
Many times the businesses with the infringement will settle for hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to avoid a lengthy and costly court process. Now, what does this have to do with our Christmas shopping?
Well, once these businesses have paid off their patent litigation, they will have to increase the cost of their product and service so that us the consumers can make up for the loss. This is similar to what is taking place in the medical field, hospitals and doctors are required to charge much higher based upon any litigation or future litigation that is brought against them.
So when it comes this Christmas season make sure to give a big “Merry Christmas” to your local patent troll!
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