At the end of January, an Irish-registered company named Neodrón made headlines when it reached a multi-million dollar settlement with ten multinationals selling any type of electronic equipment with a touch screen. The company had bought existing patents covering the technology and used them to launch infringement actions against tech companies such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, essentially threatening to halt the global trade in electronic devices if they didn’t pay compensation. Neodrón is owned by Realta, the Irish investment vehicle of Magnetar Capital, a US hedge fund firm with $12 billion in assets under management. Magnetar made its name…

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