The owner of the news site Fark Drew Curtis has waded into patent trolls calling them “terrorists.”

Curtis told the TED 2012 conference how he won a patent dispute over e-mail newsletters by refusing to settle. He said that he did not negotiate with terrorists.  He made things as difficult, tedious, and annoying for plaintiff's attorneys, who likely work on contingency and get paid for a percentage of settlements, not for their time.

Curtis said that patent claims were a pain in the neck and were vague on purpose. Often easier to pay a patent troll than it is to drag out a legal dispute and win, when a “win” might cost $2 million. He said that patent troll companies were like the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the Philippines. That extremist sect kidnapped people for ransom initially, collected small sums, expanded with more personnel and equipment, then kidnapped more people for higher ransoms. [Had they been born in another part of the worl, Abu Sayyaf leaders would probably end up as top execs or investment bankers. Ed]