A person or company that acquires a patent or patent rights but does not practice the patented invention. NPEs typically do not manufacture or sell any products or conduct any commercial processes. NPEs exploit acquired patents by:

Because NPEs do not commercialize the patented invention itself or any other product or process, they usually are not susceptible to patent infringement counterclaims.

While some NPEs, also called patent assertion entities (PAEs), exist solely to acquire and enforce patents, others have broader purposes, such as non-profits or universities that engage in research activities. Certain NPEs, particularly those that do not research and develop inventions, have been referred to pejoratively as patent trolls and criticized for aggressively targeting companies using certain widely-used technology (for example, business method software).