Photo via YouTube/Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Photo via YouTube/Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

If you’re creating a new technology or have a business idea beware. Patent trolls are everywhere.

HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took on the world of companies that fish for other companies to sue for infringing on their patents, or, as Oliver puts it, “legally binding dibs,” in this segment on “patent trolls.”

Thanks to technological advancements in the last few decades, especially with software development, the number of patent-related lawsuits has skyrocketed, costing “investors half a trillion dollars since 1990,” Oliver reports.

If you’re starting a company, inventing something new or just curious how the world of patent trolls is affecting everyone — even big tech companies like Apple and Samsung — take a look. Even if it’s just for Oliver’s priceless Tinder slam.

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