I've always wondered: what if you just responded to a patent troll with "screw you" and refused to play their game? What if you just did the absolute minimum and didn't take their bait to reach settlement? What could you face? Could you go to jail?
Patents are a civil matter. You'd end up involved in civil litigation, which means you pay an attorney to defend you, or the plaintiff would win by default. Usually, the goal is to settle prior to litigation, because litigation is incredibly expensive.
If you litigate and the plaintiff wins the case -- or you don't fight and lose by default -- the plaintiff gets a judgement against you. The judge/jury determine what you must pay to the plaintiff. With a judgement in hand, the plaintiff must start collection proceedings. This is a not-so-straight-forward process, and can take months, if not years, depending upon how evasive the defendant is and how aggressive the plaintiff attorney is.
Expect to receive garnishment orders for your pay, as well as other treats, such as having your checking account emptied without notice. Being evasive may also require additional court appearances and court orders. Failure to comply with a court order can result in charges of contempt. This usually means a fine, but can also result in jail time if the act is egregious.
At the end of the day, you may find yourself filing bankruptcy, in which case the trustee will be the one after your assets.
The whole time this is happening, it's very difficult to operate. Having someone chase you while paying thousands of dollars in attorney fees makes life very difficult.
The bottom line is that you cannot simply "refuse to play their game".
I think your best bet might be to go pro se, where you represent yourself and just file a flurry of extensions, change of venues, discoveries etc. Learn a few rules and then burn the trolls time like crazy. If you have a low income, most states will even waive your court and filing fees.
