What’s A Patent Troll, And What Needs Regulating?

A post from Eileen Hyde from the Baker Botts firm confronts the issue of non-practicing entities, and the dilemma that’s presented in trying to regulate them. “Nothing in the Patent Act requires a patent owner to practice the patent,” she writes. “In fact, research entities such as universities are also commonly NPEs, and allowing them to monetize their patents encourages beneficial research and academic study.” This raises the question of how to stop abusive troll litigation without harming innovation. How have the states and the federal government, including by way of the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,  tried to do that, and what the prospects are for the future?