It is a general phrase for problems like patent thickets, submarine patents, nail houses, and more red tapes.

Some submarine patents emerged as much as 40 years after the date of filing of the corresponding application.

Manufacturers are said to fear that they would be economically crippled by a submarine patent if the change in the law had not taken place.

The Forgent strategy is, on the surface at least, different from another frequently debated tactic in the intellectual property arena, known as a submarine patent.

This had the effect of taking the industry by surprise when the patents in question finally issued; hence the term submarine patent.

With the move to published applications, this has become a common way of producing submarine patents.

Japanese officials, as well as most large American companies, contend that such changes are necessary to eliminate "submarine" patents.

Persons or companies making use of submarine patents are sometimes referred to as patent pirates.

A few potential submarine patents may result from pre-1995 filings that have yet to be granted and may remain unpublished until issuance.

Such submarine patents may also exist for non-free formats like MP3.