“Last Week: Tonight” host John Oliver on Sunday explored the dark, duplicitous and costly world of patents, particularly the types of companies that try to take a cut on inventions they have no role in producing.
They go by the name, “patent trolls.”
“Most of these companies don’t produce anything, they just shake down anyone who does,” Oliver began.
“So calling them ‘trolls’ is a little misleading — at least trolls actually do something. They control bridge access for goats and ask people fun riddles,” he said. “Patent trolls just threaten to sue the living shit out of people.”
Of the 4,700 patent lawsuits filed in 2012, 3,000 were the work of the trolls, according to Bloomberg.
One example is Uniloc, a company saying it has a claim on every Android app in existence.
“That techinically means they could show up at the headquarters of Tinder and demand a cut of everything Tinder has created,” Oliver said, referencing the popular dating app.
“Which, I assume, would be a pile of STDs, sad orgasms, and shards of human self-esteem,” he said.
The litigation patent trolls thrive on has reportedly cost $500,000,000,000, or half a trillion dollars, since 1990.
Watch the clip, courtesy of HBO:
