The Constitution - as we all should know by now - allows Congress to pass laws providing patent and copyright protection. People have exclusive ownership of these items for a limited time. The intent is to encourage people to invent products with the assumption that they will be driven by the promise of making money off them.
Recent attention has been paid to a new breed of litigant - a patent troll - who acquire patents and then hunt around and try to find people they think might be violating it. There are questions about whether this practice might actually inhibit innovation, which can defeat the entire purpose of the patent clause.
- Patent Troll on Steroids: How America’s Patent System May Hurt Innovation.
- When Patents Attack.
