Wireless carrier ATT (T) was the top target of so-called patent trolls in 2013, having been sued more than 54 times by them in 2013—more than once a week. This years list of top ten patent troll targets was published today in a Fortune magazine feature story about RPX Corp.(RPXC), which compiled the statistics.2013年，无线运营商美国电话电报公司ATT沦为了 “专利流氓”的首要反击目标。一年之内，ATT被这类公司控告约54次，平均值下来每周多达一次。今天，《财富》杂志在一篇关于专利构建公司RPX Corp的专题报道中发布了这家公司统计资料、编纂的2014年“专利流氓十大目标公司”名单。The article, called Taking on the Trolls, states: ATT is no anomaly. Google (GOOG) was hit with 43 [such] suits last year; Verizon (VZ), 42; Apple (AAPL), 41; Samsung (SSNLF) and Amazon (AMZN), 39 each; Dell and Sony (SNE), 34 each; Huawei, 32; Blackberry (BBRY), 31. Every brand on this unenviable top-ten list was sued by [a patent troll] at least once every 12 days.这篇标题为《庆贺魔头的挑战》（Taking on the Trolls）写到：“ATT并不是一个特例。

谷歌公司（Google）去年被控告约43次，威瑞森通信（Verizon）被控告42次，苹果公司（Apple）被控告41次，三星（Samsung）和亚马逊（Amazon）分别被控告39次，戴尔（Dell）索尼（Sony）分别被控告34次，华为（Huawei）32次，黑莓公司（Blackberry）31次。转入这张榜单并不是一件令人羡慕的事，榜单中的这些公司最少12天就要被（专利流氓）控告一次。”Patent troll is a pejorative term. A more neutral term, and the one that RPX uses, is non-practicing entity, or NPE. An NPE is a company that sells no products or services of its own. In their most controversial form, NPEs purchase patents on the open market and then assert them against operating companies, like ATT and Google, seeking licensing fees and, often, suing to get them.“专利流氓”这个称谓具有鄙夷的意味，而RPX公司所用于了一个更加中性的称呼——“非专利实行主体”，即NPE。NPE公司本身不为他人获取任何产品或服务。

它们最不具争议的作法是，在公开市场上出售各种专利，然后声称运营公司（比如ATT或谷歌）用于了他们的专利，然后拒绝对方缴纳许可酬劳。NPE获得许可酬劳的方式一般来说是向这些公司发动法律诉讼。RPX is whats known as a defensive patent aggregator. In exchange for a subscription fee—currently paid by some 168 companies, including Google, Verizon, and Samsung—it attempts to buy up potentially problematic patents on the open market, before NPEs can get their hands on them.RPX则是所谓的防御型专利构建公司。

RPX向公司缴纳会员费，然后等待NPE动手之前，先行卖给公开市场上对成员公司具备潜在隐患的专利。目前RPX共计大约168家客户，其中还包括谷歌、威瑞森通信和三星。

According to RPXs statistics—which have been relied upon by academics and government agencies—NPEs filed 3,608 new suits in 2013, up 19% from the 3,042 they filed in 2012, and their suits named 4,843 total defendants, up 13% from the 4,282 sued a year earlier. NPE suits accounted for 67% of all new patent cases filed last year, and 63% of all new patent defendants, according to the figures RPX shared with Fortune.学术及政府机构皆依靠RPX获取的统计数据。根据它向《财富》杂志获取的资料，2013年，NPE共驳回了3,608起诉讼，比2012年的3,042件减少了19%。

这些诉讼指向的被告共计4,843名，比2012年的4,282名减少了13%。NPE驳回的案件占到去年全部专利案件的67%，被告人数为总被告人数的63%。When one takes into account NPE cases filed in previous years and still unresolved as of December 31, 2013, the top NPE target was Google, which was fighting 72 active cases as of that date. The next nine companies in line after it were ATT (70), Apple (68), Samsung (63), Sony (58), Amazon (54), Verizon (46), HTC (42), LG Electronics (42), and Dell (41). (The figures for Google include suits against its Motorola Mobility unit, which Google announced last month that it is selling to Lenovo (LNGVY).)如果按在2013年12月31日前并未落幕案件的总数来计算出来，谷歌是NPE的首要目标。截至这一日期，谷歌手头上还有72件没落幕的专利官司。

其余九大目标公司依序为ATT（70件），苹果（68件），三星（63件），索尼（58件），亚马逊（54件），威瑞森通信（46件），宏达国际电子HTC公司（42件），LG电子（LG Electronics，42件）及戴尔（41件）。【谷歌的案件数中还包括针对摩托罗拉移动部门（Motorola Mobility）的诉讼，谷歌上月已宣告计划将这一部门卖给误解（Lenovo）。

】NPEs have their defenders, as the Fortune story explains: These argue that giant tech corporations routinely pilfer innovations dreamed up by independent inventors, and that NPEs simply give these powerless individuals the financial support and litigation muscle they need to vindicate their rights. NPEs therefore serve not only small inventors, the argument continues, but also society at large, by preserving the incentive systems that our Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution to ensure that the Thomas Edisons of the world would be motivated to provide the rest of us with the maximum possible benefit from their genius.不过，《财富》文章同时也写道，也有些人在为NPE申辩。“这些人的观点是，大型科技公司常常盗取独立国家发明家的创意专利，NPE公司不过是为这些无力镇压的人们获取了他们所必须的经济提供支援和法律手段，以确保他们自身的权利。为了确保世界上所有像托马斯?爱迪生一样的发明家能运用自己的天赋为社会带给更加多福利，开国元勋们已将发明者创意激励机制写到了宪法。

而通过确保这一机制，NPE公司不只在为个体发明家服务，堪称在教化整个社会。”Still, the sheer numbers have many people skeptical. Is ATT really stealing breakthrough ideas from various Edisons at a rate of more than once a week?“然而，意味着从数字上看，很多人就对这种众说纷纭回应猜测。难道说，ATT在以多达每周一次的速度盗取爱迪生们的突破性成果吗？。

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