Patents are usually a good thing. They protect your work, your idea, your product. However, as we’ve seen happen all too often, “Patent Trolls” often abuse the system by demanding payments or licenses for patents, despite being vague and generic, have been approved.
Now a growing US trade body is voicing their anger over the patent trolls who seek high amount just to settle cases that they bring. The Internet Association is now part of the group and they’ll be taking out both radio and print adverts across 15 US states to protest against the trolls.
President of The Internet Association, Michael Beckerman, stated..
Patent trolls use bad patents to bully companies of all sizes, in every economic sector, from coast to coast. This is essentially legalised extortion, forcing hard-working businesses to go to court or write a cheque.
Hopefully this, along with calls for Congress to tackle the problem, may hopefully mean less of these lawsuits from patent holders who are nothing more than entrepreneurs wanting to make a fast buck.
It can’t come soon enough in my opinion. These patent trolls benefit nobody (aside from maybe the legal firms representing them). It’s a total abuse of the system, and I think we can blame it on a patent system which sorely needs attention. I somehow doubt that the existing system can be ‘patched’ to stamp all this out, and even if it is, it will affect smaller companies with legitimate patent claims.