You're absolutely correct but I just wanted to bring that topic just for the general awareness on the "patent troll" subject. Also, I found the following information on "conglomeration of companies" : In 2011, a group of technology companies that included Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and BlackBerry banded together to outbid Google on a bundle of patents from Nortel Networks. This cadre was victorious, paying $4.5 billion for around 4,000 patents, which Google couldn’t match. Now the group, which calls itself the Rockstar Consortium, is reportedly looking to offload some of those patents.