Not just for patents, trolls now eye copyrights

Lawyers' Forum

By Gilberto E. Espinoza and Daniel Allard

Gilberto E. Espinoza is an attorney at Michael, Best & Friedrich LLP whose practice involves intellectual property law, with an emphasis on patent litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. He can be reached at geespinoza@michaelbest.com and (312) 596-5802. Daniel Allard is a student at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law with experience as an extern at Michael, Best and an intern at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Posted December 11, 2013 2:10 PM

Patent owners have been labeled, sometimes, as “patent trolls” because they neither manufacture products nor supply services based on the patents they own, but instead pursue and collect licensing fees or damages from those patents. Patent trolls have become a hot media topic, and now Congress is considering legislation to curb their rise. But patent trolls are not alone. There are also copyright trolls. Copyrights provide limited monopolies to artists to encourage them to create works and protect those …

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