In Norse mythology, a “troll” is a generally unlikable character who lives under bridges and charges a fee to those who pass over it. That a “troll” is a generally negative or pejorative term seems to come from the notion that the character who collects fees is acting in an unfair or opportunistic manner, even though there may apparently be some basis for the demand of a payment — or at least some success in securing such payments from those who pass.
In the past couple of decades, the term “patent troll” has evolved to identify a party that owns a patent for the purposes of collecting royalties or infringement damages from others but has no intention of manufacturing the product covered by the patent or otherwise commercially exploiting the technology of the invention.
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