British newspaper The Independent quoted Alexander Poltorak in a story about why the recent Nortel patent auction was a particularly big loss for Google and its Android operating system. ("Outgunned Google accuses rivals of ganging up", July 12, 2011)
Article excerpt:
"These companies are suing each other like it is going out of style," says Alexander Poltorak, chief executive of General Patent Corp, an intellectual property adviser. "If you drew a map of who is suing whom, it would look like a spaghetti plate. The reason is that the telcoms industry is in a process of transition and so many players are vying for a piece of a market that is changing so rapidly.
"A patent is an asset, a limited monopoly on an invention and a legal right to exclude competitors. It is a negative right, a licence to sue, a call option on future litigation."
...The spaghetti plate is as messy as it is because so many companies have been pushing the technological boundaries of telecoms for so many years. A single smartphone might contain 2,000 patented innovations, Mr Poltorak said, and such is the rush to get new inventions out to consumers, companies always opt to ship now and litigate later.