After an economic boom rivaling the Gold Rush in the mid-to-late 1990s, a severe downturn has left many technology companies who overspent and expanded too fast during the boom clambering for survival. As a result, such companies have fallen back on the very thing that embodies their ingenuity - and made them successful to begin with - the patents that protect their innovative technologies. While some companies profit from lice nsing patents, others make money by pursuing judgments against those who infringe on these patents.