Re:Patent Trolls: Make Them Pay
by rayiner on Wednesday September 19, 2012 @01:28AM
(#4542265)
> You say it chills litigation against big corporations? It tempers it. Where you cite examples of lawsuits against companies promoting the greater good, I see ambulance chasers trying to siphon extraordinary class-action settlements.
Read up on the economics of externalities. In the US, the legal system is pretty much the only thing we have to deal with companies trying to externalize costs. And the amount of these externalized costs is huge. $500 billion or so for the coal industry alone (http://wvgazette.com/static/coal%20tattoo/HarvardCoalReportS...).
The narrative popularized by corporate America is the ambulance chasers just looking for a quick settlement, and while that no doubt exist the truth is that lawyers are the only thing that stand between the big corporations and everyone else.
Read up on the economics of externalities. In the US, the legal system is pretty much the only thing we have to deal with companies trying to externalize costs. And the amount of these externalized costs is huge. $500 billion or so for the coal industry alone (http://wvgazette.com/static/coal%20tattoo/HarvardCoalReportS...).
The narrative popularized by corporate America is the ambulance chasers just looking for a quick settlement, and while that no doubt exist the truth is that lawyers are the only thing that stand between the big corporations and everyone else.