How Patent Trolls Are Killing Innovation

“Patent ‘trolls,’ as they are called, purchase large numbers of patents in the hope of using the threat of a patent-infringement suit to extort a patent-license fee from a company that makes a similar product; the product may or may not infringe, which is often very difficult to determine, but the alleged infringer may decide to pay the licensee fee, if it is not too large, to avoid the cost of litigation.”