White House acts to reduce patent trolling

New Scientist : Patent trolls are companies that buy the rights for patents that, in some overly broad cases, shouldn’t have been granted at all. The trolls then assert those rights by threatening lawsuits against businesses that infringe the patentsâmdash;often settling out of court, with the targets agreeing to pay crippling licensing fees. The vast majorityâmdash;70% to 90%âmdash;of the patents such companies hold are software or business practices and they target not just manufacturers but technology users. Now the White House has called for Congress to require the US Patent and Trademark Office to institute several policies to reduce patent-troll lawsuits . The White House has also instituted policies of its own that it hopes will reduce the estimated $29 billion spent each year fighting patent trolls and will hold those companies accountable for frivolous lawsuits.