http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080723-nintendo-cant-fight-off-patent-metroids-faces-injunction.html
Looks like another company is losing to a patent troll. I keep thinking that Congress or the courts need to put a stop to this practice, but it’s so hard to define. Where do you draw the line between patent troll behavior and a legitimate inventor protecting his creation before he can bring it to market? No one seems to have an answer yet, but we need one soon. Perhaps patent lawsuits should have a stricter requirement for ‘standing’ - the patent owner must have a product that is damaged by the defendant’s actions? It would eliminate patent trolling, but it would also limit the usefulness of patents in protecting new products before they release.
Unfortunately, there is little emphasis on patent reform - it’s a complicated issue with a headline-generation-quotient of 0.0 for politicians. Plenty of reason there for them to stay away.
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