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“U.S. politicians appeared sympathetic on Thursday to tech companies’ cries for help combating what are commonly called ‘patent trolls’ –companies that supposedly hold patents for no reason other than coaxing inflated settlements out of wealthy corporations.

“California Democrat Howard Berman said he was concerned about the patent holder who ‘spends not a cent on development…(and) patents every monkey he kisses. All he does is spend his time sitting around waiting, (hoping) that he can make enough of a case that it might infringe on his monkey that somebody will pay him to go away.’

“Each of the politicians has already put forth his own proposal aimed at improving what some decry as a broken patent system, though those suggestions remain works-in-progress while competing interests try to work out the best language. Both Berman and Smith said Thursday that they’d like to see new laws enacted this year. But that may prove tough because of an abbreviated election-year calendar.”

Anne Broache. Politicos Mull Action Against Patent System Abusers. News.com. June 15, 2006.

Related Stories & Documents:

• U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Oversight Hearing on “Patent Trolls: Fact or Fiction?” June 15, 2006.
• Public Knowledge. H.R.2795: The Patent Reform Act of 2005. Undated.

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