Cliff Asness was facing a dilemma into how he would plunge his hedge fund into the hottest investment area worldwide - ESG Investing. Founder and managing principal of AQR - one the most storied quantitative hedge funds in the world - Asness knew anything less than a big splash was not an option. To this end, Asness was planning to launch a liquid equity long-short fund he hoped would appeal to ESG sensitive clients. Shorting was unheard of in the ESG space, but Asness knew that it could send a new, and powerful message, on carbon neutrality - and ESG weighting more broadly - that he hoped ESG investors were ready to send. He would soon find out just that...

This case, set in October 2017, follows Danielle Sheer, general counsel for Carbonite, as she defends the company against claims of patent infringement. It provides a broad overview of the U.S. patent system and explores the impact that non-practicing entities (sometimes also called "patent trolls") can have on companies.

The U.S. Intellectual Property (IP) Ecosystem is one of the most robust and dynamic in the world -- and has been for centuries. The bedrock of this system is the "patent," a legal document that allows its holder exclusive commercialization rights of a part of the "idea space" granted through the patent. Strong legal protection of IP has made the U.S. a destination of great thinkers and innovators worldwide in order to enjoy this legal protection of their valuable insights. A new threat, however, looms. The same legal system that has protected IP has been used to create an organizational form known as a "Patent Troll." Patent Trolls amass patents for the sake of opportunistically extracting rents from firms producing and commercializing products. In this Industry Note, we describe the origin, evolution, costs, benefits, and future outlook for Patent Trolling in the United States.