Nathan Myhrvold- Brilliant inventor or patent troll?

The test is stupidly simple:<p>Does he build things or rent-seek on what others have built?<p>Edit: I'm sure he's not <i>all</i> of one thing or another. Just take an average.

At first I bought into the "patent troll" label that was being put on him. After reading more about his company and his career it's apparent to me that he's just an entrepreneur that sees huge potential in a "patent market".<p>Whether or not his trolling will help create more incentive for invention or impede it is yet to be seen. It's easy to simply call him a patent troll but the economics of inventions and what he's trying to do are fascinating, just like any uncharted market.<p>I vote that he's an entrepreneur that can be labeled as a patent troll. His company is "bad" in the same way that Walmart is bad. They probably provide a valuable service at a hidden cost.

It should be easy enough to resolve this: Where are the products? IV has been running for enough years that there should be some shipping products by now.

A couple of us are working on a project to help bring this kind of behavior to light <a href="http://www.shellcompanyfinder.com/ShellCompanies/Nathan%20Myhrvold%27s%20Intellectual%20Ventures/11" rel="nofollow">http://www.shellcompanyfinder.com/ShellCompanies/Nathan%20My...</a><p>We just started on it, so there isn't a lot of data, but it is already possible to start making associations between companies.

'Alas, this may take some time—as Mr Gates pointed out at the TED conference, new reactor designs like TerraPower’s can take 20 years to invent and another 20 to deploy. So Mr Myhrvold may find that the suspicions against him of patent-trollery have a long half-life.'<p>nyuk nyuk nyuk...

Patent troll.

Um, both?

Brilliant patent troll?

1000+ shell companies to hide patent lawsuits? Brilliant!