Upon reading the patent troll article which illustrates what seems to be a very tedious task of discovering outdated patents, I've come to the conclusion that some people have way too much time on their hands. The issue of outdated patents wouldn't be a problem for the companies involved if they weren't making as much money as they do. So what are they supposed to do? Not make a profit so they can be under the radar of pesky patent trolls.
On the other hand, I can see how the mindset of letting the little fish go can become catastrophic. If you let companies get away with expired patents on little things, it's only a matter of time before they gradually stop keeping up to date on their big things.
This realization does not excuse the behavior of patent trolls. Reading about the situation in the article makes it seem like a hobby. I imagine people going around town to different stores and inspecting everything from paper clip packaging to bundles of yarn. My question begs to be answered. Is it really that critical? The man, Stauffer, who noticed the bow tie with the expired patent on it most likely admired the tie before he decided there was something wrong with it. So why excrete waste on a company whose clothing you admire. Is it because one devotes themselves to the law so devoutly or is it something else.
I think that there are much bigger problems in the world than just simply figuring out which products have expired patents within a company. All of the energy spent doing this could be beneficial for other tasks that are helpful to our community as a whole. Now with this comes a wave of companies who now have to scramble through their products, combing through each and every detail to make sure their patents are up to date, when they could be donating to charities.
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