Starving the Trolls
How hard would it be to change the system by just this tiny amount: in order to bring a patent infringement suit, you would have to actually be providing a competing product in the space that you are complaining about – thus showing that there’s actual harm?
James Robertson
I’ve argued that in order for a patent to be enforceable, it should be backed by an actual implementation. The problem with that is with inventors and entrepreneurs seeking patent protection so they can seek help from prospective partners without risking their invention. Maybe there should be a second class of patent for this purpose – with a more limited time frame, to protect entrepreneurs while reducing the risk of purely speculative patents and rewarding failed enterprises that just happened to patent their idea.
Ideas are worthless without execution, and as it is, the practice of patent trolling completely subverts the intended economic incentive behind patents. I’m amazed that corporate America hasn’t thrown their collective weight at Congress and forced reform. I suspect that the attitude is an intellectual property Cold War – the large patent-holders are building a system of mutually assured destruction and regard the patent terrorists as a manageable cost of doing business.
— Gordon Weakliem
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