Free for a Fee

The one branch of the government that seems to have shown some concern about the phenomenon of so-called “patent trolls” is the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has taken to calling the trolls Patent Assertion Entities, or PAEs.On Monday, the FTC hosted a most unusual gathering. Some of the biggest names in patent-trolling were invited to talk about their business, and they actually showed up—including patent-holding giant Intellectual Ventures. Critics of trolls, from both academia and the corporate world, were also in attendance to make sure the government heard their views on the issue.

Professor Collen Chien of Santa Clara University kicked off the session with a remarkable statistic: in 2012, patent trolls have brought the majority of the patent lawsuits in the US, filing 2,530 lawsuits through December 1.