Patent Trolls are often buying "unused" patents from various companies. Usually what happens is a startup or something goes downhill, and assets get sold, or a slowly dying company decides to change it's view on IP assertion or "maximizing shareholder value through licensing". Even normal companies often sell patents not at the core of their business to make money on the side, (where non-core would be like IBM's patents on bathroom reservations, http://www.google.com/patents/US6329919?dq=system+and+method...).
As for "why wouldn't companies that make money from selling to a troll join the LOT network?", because it would mean the trolls would not derive value from the patents, since all participants in LOT would get a license when that sale happened.
If LOT contains everyone the troll wants to sue, then the patent is not worth anything to the troll.
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Patent Trolls are often buying "unused" patents from various companies. Usually what happens is a startup or something goes downhill, and assets get sold, or a slowly dying company decides to change it's view on IP assertion or "maximizing shareholder value through licensing". Even normal companies often sell patents not at the core of their business to make money on the side, (where non-core would be like IBM's patents on bathroom reservations, http://www.google.com/patents/US6329919?dq=system+and+method...).
As for "why wouldn't companies that make money from selling to a troll join the LOT network?", because it would mean the trolls would not derive value from the patents, since all participants in LOT would get a license when that sale happened.
If LOT contains everyone the troll wants to sue, then the patent is not worth anything to the troll.
Couldn't a LOT member still sell to a troll using the Change of Control provisions?