The Patent Troll Club Gains Another Member: Unwired Planet Inc (UPIP)

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To my experienced but admittedly non-lawyerly eyes, all three of these stooges want to capitalize on the mobile revolution without actually contributing anything to it. Many of these so-called inventions are obvious to regular Joes today, and have been self-evident to mobile technology experts for ages. I mean, seriously — placing markers on a map? The Patent Office should never have approved these flimsy applications to begin with, and I believe that judges and juries have enough brains to throw most of them out with the bathwater.

It’s one thing to file lawsuits to protect real innovation, but a totally different thing to fire a patent blunderbuss at anything that moves. It’s a crapshoot, not a business strategy. You shouldn’t be surprised to find out that two of these companies are headquartered in gambling haven Nevada, and the third has an easy two-hour drive to the casinos in Atlantic City.

The article The Patent Troll Club Gains Another Member originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anders Bylund.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns shares of Google, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Check out Anders’ bio and holdings or follow him on Twitter and Google+. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Google and Apple. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating a bull call spreadw position in Apple.

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