I Will Leave It To You To Decide If MMRGlobal Is One Of These.

This appeared a little while ago:

The Evidence Is In: Patent Trolls Do Hurt Innovation

by James Bessen  |   10:00 AM July 25, 2014

Over the last two years, much has been written about patent trolls, firms that make their money asserting patents against other companies, but do not make a useful product of their own. Both the White House and Congressional leaders have called for patent reform to fix the underlying problems that give rise to patent troll lawsuits. Not so fast, say Stephen Haber and Ross Levine in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed (“The Myth of the Wicked Patent Troll”). We shouldn’t reform the patent system, they say, because there is no evidence that trolls are hindering innovation; these calls are being driven just by a few large companies who don’t want to pay inventors.

But there is evidence of significant harm. The White House and the Congressional Research Service both cited many research studies suggesting that patent litigation harms innovation. And three new empirical studies provide strong confirmation that patent litigation is reducing venture capital investment in startups and is reducing R&D spending, especially in small firms.

Haber and Levine admit that patent litigation is surging. There were six times as many patent lawsuits last year than in the 1980s. The number of firms sued by patent trolls grew nine-fold over the last decade; now a majority of patent lawsuits are filed by trolls. Haber and Levine argue that this is not a problem: “it might instead reflect a healthy, dynamic economy.” They cite papers finding that patent trolls tend to file suits in innovative industries and that during the nineteenth century, new technologies such as the telegraph were sometimes followed by lawsuits. But this does not mean that the explosion in patent litigation is somehow “normal.” It’s true that plaintiffs, including patent trolls, tend to file lawsuits in dynamic, innovative industries. But that’s just because they “follow the money.” Patent trolls tend to sue cash rich companies, and innovative new technologies generate cash.

Lots more here:

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/07/the-evidence-is-in-patent-trolls-do-hurt-innovation/

A very interesting study that reveals there is a cost to innovation with all this largely unnecessary legal activity.

I was interested to see Government as a patient troll target was not mentioned - as they usually have pretty deep pockets!

David.