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Wireless carrier AT&T (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 year's 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AT&T成为了 “专利流氓”的首要攻击目标。一年之内，AT&T被这类公司起诉达54次，平均下来每周超过一次。今天，《财富》杂志在一篇关于专利集成公司RPX Corp的专题报道中公布了这家公司统计、编撰的2014年“专利流氓十大目标公司”名单。
The article, called "Taking on the Trolls," states: "AT&T 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《迎接魔头的挑战》（Taking on the Trolls）写道：“AT&T并不是一个特例。谷歌公司（Google）去年被起诉达43次，威瑞森通信（Verizon）被起诉42次，苹果公司（Apple）被起诉41次，三星（Samsung）和亚马逊（Amazon）分别被起诉39次，戴尔（Dell）索尼（Sony）分别被起诉34次，华为（Huawei）32次，黑莓公司（Blackberry）31次。进入这张榜单并不是一件令人羡慕的事，榜单中的这些公司至少12天就要被（专利流氓）起诉一次。”
"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 AT&T and Google, seeking licensing fees and, often, suing to get them.
“专利流氓”这个称呼带有鄙夷的意味，而RPX公司所使用了一个更中性的称谓——“非专利实施主体”，即NPE。NPE公司本身不为他人提供任何产品或服务。它们最具争议的做法是，在公开市场上购买各种专利，然后声称运营公司（比如AT&T或谷歌）使用了他们的专利，然后要求对方支付授权费。NPE拿到授权费的方式通常是向这些公司发起法律诉讼。
RPX is what's 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集成公司。RPX向公司收取会员费，然后赶在NPE动手之前，抢先买下公开市场上对成员公司具有潜在隐患的专利。目前RPX共有约168家客户，其中包括谷歌、威瑞森通信和三星。
According to RPX's 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.
学术及政府机构均仰仗RPX提供的统计数据。根据它向《财富》杂志提供的资料，2013年，NPE共提起了3,608起诉讼，比2012年的3,042件增加了19%。这些诉讼指向的被告共有4,843名，比2012年的4,282名增加了13%。NPE提起的案件占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 AT&T (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日前未终结案件的总数来计算，谷歌是NPE的首要目标。截至这一日期，谷歌手头上还有72件没有终结的专利官司。其余九大目标公司依次为AT&T（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）。【谷歌的案件数中包括针对摩托罗拉移动部门（Motorola Mobility）的诉讼，谷歌上月已宣布计划将这一部门卖给联想（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》文章同时也写到，也有些人在为NPE辩护。“这些人的观点是，大型科技公司经常窃取独立发明家的创新专利，NPE公司不过是为这些无力反抗的人们提供了他们所需要的经济支援和法律手段，以维护他们自身的权利。为了保证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来更多福利，开国元勋们已将发明创新激励机制写进了宪法。而通过维护这一机制，NPE公司不只在为个体发明家服务，更是在造福整个社会。”
"Still, the sheer numbers have many people skeptical. Is AT&T really stealing breakthrough ideas from various Edisons at a rate of more than once a week?"
“然而，仅仅从数字上看，很多人就对这种说法表示怀疑。难道说，AT&T在以超过每周一次的速度窃取爱迪生们的突破性成果吗？”
