IDG Contributor Network: The patent troll problem cannot be dismissed as a myth

In 2011, Congress passed the America Invents Act and took strong steps against a prolonged wave of abusive patent litigation.  That legislation arose because by the early 2000s, patent troll litigation spiraled out of control, increasing 6-fold over the rate in the 1980s, and affecting almost 5,000 unique defendants each year.  Researchers found that “patent trolls cost defendant firms $29 billion per year in direct out-of-pocket costs; in aggregate, patent litigation destroyed