A patent troll is a person or company that holds patents for the sole purpose of extracting license revenue or suing infringers. The troll does not make, use or sell new products or technologies, it waits until a company has invested in, developed and commercialized an idea and then it pounces – offering a license in return for cash (see the BlackBerry litigation above). The target company is often left with only two options: pay up or litigate. How can companies manage the risk posed by patent trolls?