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What to do about the “patent troll” problem

It’s clear that the current U.S. patent system is facing some growing pains. There are certain groups, like “patent assertion entities” (PAEs), that buy patents with a view to assert them against parties that have usually independently invented, produced, and marketed the technology at issue. A new report titled “An Overview of the ‘Patent Trolls’ Debate” was prepared by the Congressional Research Service for members of congress and provides several different solutions to this problem. Rob Tiller, Assistant General Consel for Red Hat, summarizes the report. Ideas include eliminating software patents, changing the method for calculating damages in patent cases, or changing the time limit of patents.

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