# Non-practicing entity (NPE)

A patent owner that does not make or sell products practicing its patents but earns money by licensing or asserting them. The pejorative term 'patent troll' refers to NPEs seen as using the high cost of litigation to extract settlements.

**Full entry:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary/non-practicing-entity

**All patent terms:** https://patentbrief.org/glossary

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_Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. A plain-English glossary of US patent terms._