The idea is to rein in so-called patent trolls, which buy up dormant patents left behind by failed companies, then sue others for infringement, often with little evidence.
The trolls take advantage of the high cost of patent litigation to try to extort settlements.
The problem, as Bob Brown sees it, is that the bill’s mechanism for reining the trolls in also affects every legitimate patent holder who rightfully wants to defend his invention.
Source: The politics of patents – CommonWealth Magazine
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