Laddering

A term used to describe a patent licensing tactic, particularly used with widely adopted technologies and SEPs and patent trolls where they first pursue smaller entities, less able to afford the cost of an effective legal defence, where even a basic legal defence would cost a fraction of the low royalty demanded, then tout that success and royalty rate secured in the earlier cases to press larger entities for more substantial settlements, or using it as evidence of a reasonable royalty in litigation, often arguing that the high DUDU rate must be charged under the non-discrimination principles of FRAND.

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