Stopping the patent troll scam

I don't know if the writer of this article is ignorant or cynical (leaning towards the latter), but spinning section 18 as fair takes a healthy dose of one or both. Section 18, at its root, is another attempt to invalidate a handful of patents owned by DataTreasury because their existence is expensive for a few financial institutions.<p>"Patent reform," in this case, means "pay us^H^H^H^H^H^Hdonate a lot of money and we'll pass a special law to try and invalidate an inconvenient patent."<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataTreasury#Ballard_patents" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataTreasury#Ballard_patents</a><p>Note: I'm not arguing one way or another about the validity of these patents. Even if they're invalid, passing a law specifically targeting them and claiming that it's somehow a fair attempt at patent reform is insanity.

In a perverse way I think that all the recent patent law-suits and general trolling is a good thing. The more egregious the behavior and the law-suits (lodsys, IV etc) the more attention it will get from the media till finally we will do something about it. I hope that the trolls unchecked greed will be their undoing.

"Fair-minded Americans agree that intellectual property rights must be enforced if the nation’s unique brand of entrepreneurial capitalism is to thrive in an increasingly competitive 21st century."<p>Stating that your opinion is that of "fair-minded americans", now that's what I call objective journalism.

Nice article, but I don't believe in a congress that runs on lobbyists' money will solve the patent troll problem. Even with the section 18 it's too little, too late.