ID	173
Title	Patently Absurd
Broadcast	2013-08-20 00:00:00
Network	Radio 4
Presenter	Rory Cellan-Jones
Producer	Mike Hally
Precis	The patent system in the USA is so distorted it's now more lucrative for companies known as 'patent trolls' to sue manufacturers rather than actually make anything. The problem's so serious that President Obama has got involved -- and British companies are also targeted if they do business in the US. Rory Cellan-Jones investigates and finds one of the world's biggest trolls in his lair in Dallas.
Duration	37
Txtime	1899-12-30 20:02:00
Repeat	2013-08-25 00:00:00
Rpttime	1899-12-30 17:02:00
Description	The patent system in the USA is so distorted it's now more lucrative for companies known as 'patent trolls' to sue manufacturers rather than actually make anything. The problem's so serious that President Obama has got involved -- and British companies are also targeted if they do business in the US. Rory Cellan-Jones investigates and finds one of the world's biggest trolls in his lair in Dallas. Yet the story's not so straightforward as it might seem -- the 'patent troll' who prefers to be known as a 'patent monetization service' robustly defends the licensing of what is after all a property right enshrined in the US Constitution, and many patent lawyers agree with him. For centuries patents have helped stimulate innovation by rewarding inventors. But in recent years millions of US patents have gone to minor developments often in terms so general they seem to cover whole technologies like podcasting or wi-fi. Major corporations are amassing huge 'war-chests' of patents to defend and sue each other. Around 250,000 patents affect smartphones alone; such 'patent thickets' make it almost impossible for new companies to compete without risking ruinous lawsuits. But worst of all say the critics, are the companies that buy up patents simply to extract 'license fees' from busineses that actually make products. Faced with defending a lawsuit at a cost of at least $1 million, or settling for a smaller license fee, most pay up even if they're not infringing any patents. Last year the majority of US patent cases were filed by 'troll' companies at an estimated cost to technology businesses of $29 billion a year (though that figure is itself disputed). But it's all legal and the companies say they're simply monetising their rights as 'property owners' and raising money for small inventors. Strangely many of these cases are filed in a small town in rural Texas. Cellan-Jones reports from Marshall, once the home of 'boogie-woogie' but now more famous for 'the rocket docket' - patent cases that go to trial in a fraction of the time they take elsewhere in the US.
SqDogNumber	57
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Caption1	Main street, Marshall, Texas (pic: Rory Cellan-Jones)
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Caption2	Marshall town square (pic: Rory Cellan-Jones)
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Caption3	Restored old courthouse in Marshall (pic: Rory Cellan-Jones)
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Caption4	Corridor of ghost offices of shell companies near courthouse
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Caption5	The amazing upside-down flower-pot, invented by Patrick Morris, see www.boskke.com