White House Declares War On Patent Trolls

http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/white-house-declares-war-on-patent-troll/240156078?google_editors_picks=true

In conjunction with the publication of a report on the effect of patent lawsuits on U.S. innovation, the White House issued five executive actions and seven proposed legislative changes on Tuesday to curb excessive patent claims from patent assertion entities (PAEs), known pejoratively as patent trolls.

President Obama considers PAEs to be a drain on the economy, a view shared by many Silicon Valley companies. In a Feb. 14 speech he characterized them thus: "They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them ..."

The report, Patent Assertion and U.S. Innovation, published by the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers, takes the same position. It states that PAEs have "a negative impact on innovation and economic growth."

In support of that claim, the report cites a 2011 study that found PAEs gained $7.6 billion from 2000 through 2010 as a result of their activities, while defendant companies lost $87.6 billion in share value over the same period. "[T]he 90% of lost defendant share values that simply vanishes suggests considerable lost value to society from forgone technology transfer and commercialization of patented technology," the report says.