Our legalized extortion racket: Congress must take on patent trolls

There is no doubt we are living in turbulent times, fraught with controversy and anger. One of us is a Democrat, the other a Republican. Yet when cooler heads prevail, we find ourselves in agreement on many issues. Perhaps it’s time we focus on the common good, rather than what divides us. And regardless of political affiliation, patent reform is something we should all support. Patents serve to safeguard American ingenuity and ensure our nation’s entrepreneurs have the legal protection they need to continue to invest in innovation, create jobs and bolster our economy. Yet through legal loopholes, patent assertion entities — companies that own patents but never use them to make anything, better known as “patent trolls” — increasingly use patents as weapons to extort businesses.-- More...