Patent trolls stop innovation

[skynet]

Say goodbye to the future because legally there wont be one. Everything's been patented by trolls who are waiting to sue the next fool out of business... Idiocracy, step by step we're getting closer.

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Patent lawsuits seem to be getting more common -- continually there are daily headlines of this company suing that company over intellectual property rights.

A new study released today confirms that lawsuits are increasing and says the overall cost of these cases in the U.S. was $29 billion in 2011.

The study, which was put out by Boston University, specifically looks at "non-practicing entities" (NPE), or "patent trolls." How these trolls operate is by buying and licensing patents without making the products of their own. Many major tech companies, like Apple, Google, and Samsung, have been criticized for allegedly trolling.

Besides the $29 billion price tag, the study's authors, James Bessen and Michael Meurer, came to several other conclusions regarding the negative effects of patent trolling. These findings say that the cost burden falls on small and medium-sized companies and thus curbs innovation.

"Small firms are encouraged to divert investment from genuine invention toward simply obtaining broad and vague patents that might one day lead to a credible, if weak, lawsuit," Bessen and Meurer wrote.

Patent trolls curb innovation and cost the U.S. $29B in 2011