[shuvuvt5]

Why do we cling to this idea of patent trolls?

The patent system is the problem. None of this should have been granted but when you really try to define what software patents are novel it becomes incredibly difficult.

Just because you think this is trivial does not mean a layperson does.

Is an encryption algo novel? What's novel about it, it's just a hashing function with some new parameters.

The reality is, software patents are a joke and should be dropped entirely. Copyright is enough protection for most use cases.

Aka, don't hate the player, hate the game. And ideally, do something to fix it instead of complaining about "trolls" as if that'll ever fix the issue.

[highwaylights]

IANAL but the route to resolve this seems to be to challenge the patent on the grounds it should never have been granted and have it overturned, which it looks very much like it would be an easy argument to make, if not easy to achieve in practice.

[zupa-hu]

The problem is the cost of doing this. If it gets overturned, the defendant shouldn’t be the one to bear the cost. I’d be happy with either 1) the patent owner or 2) the patent office, who didn’t do its job properly.

[pbhjpbhj]

The UK and USA patent offices, I understand, have procedures to file evidence showing a patent application is not valid - eg because of the 'invention' already being known.

Your comment seems to relate more to unfairness in [lack of] awards of costs in USA legal proceedings.

If you sue me for something I didn't do then it shouldn't cost me anything; that seems reasonable whether the domain is IPR or any other aspect of life.

[graemep]

This varies between countries. AFAIK it is far harder to get the other side to pay your costs if you successfully defend a case in the US than it is in the UK.

[zupa-hu]

Indeed.

[Draiken]

While I agree with you, I can't see how we could ever fix the issue.

The same patent holders are the biggest backers of our politicians and will absolutely never allow any reasonable fix to the system itself.

All I read is how we should vote and yell at our representatives, completely ignoring the fact they were only elected because of donations from those benefiting from this system in the first place.

[shuvuvt5]

It costs relatively very little to "buy" Washington. Any group of fang like companies could do it and have good reason to do so.

NZ abolished software patents years ago, literally nothing bad happened as a result, companies didn't even notice.