Cengage Advantage Books: Business Law Today, The Essentials 11th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

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ADAPTING THE LAW TO THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
The Problem of Patent Trolls
In recent years, a huge number of patent infringement lawsuits have been filed against software and technology firms. Many patent cases involve companies defending real innovations, but some lawsuits are "shakedowns" by patent trolls.
Patent trolls -more formally called nonpracticing entities (NPEs) or patent assertion entities (PAEs)-are firms that do not make or sell products or services but are in the business of patent litigation. These firms buy patents and then try to enforce them against companies that do sell products or services, demanding licensing fees and threatening infringement lawsuits. Patent trolls usually target online businesses.
"I'm Going to Sue You Unless You Pay Me to Go Away"
Patent trolls literally bank on the fact that when threatened with infringement suits, most companies would rather pay to settle than engage in costly litigation, even if they believe they could win. Consider an example. Soverain Software, LLC, sued dozens of online retailers, including Amazon, Avon, Home Depot, Macy's, Nordstrom, Kohl's, RadioShack, The Gap, and Victoria's Secret. Soverain claimed that it owned patents that covered nearly any use of online shopping-cart technology and that all these retailers had infringed on its patents. Amazon paid millions to settle with Soverain, as did most of the other defendants.
Interestingly, one online retailer, Newegg, Inc., refused to pay Soverain and ultimately won in court. In 2013, a federal appellate court held that the shopping-cart patent claim was invalid on the ground of obviousness because the technology for it already existed before Soverain obtained its patent.
The Role of Software Patents
The patent troll problem is concentrated in software patents, which often include descriptions of what the software does rather than the computer code involved. Many software patents are vaguely worded and overly broad. In the United States, both the patent system and the courts have had difficulty evaluating and protecting such patents.
As a result, nearly any business that uses basic technology can be a target of patent trolls. In fact, more than 60 percent of all new patent cases are filed by patent trolls. The firms most commonly targeted by patent trolls, however, are large technology companies, including AT T, Google, Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Verizon. In 2013 alone, "AT T was sued for patent infringement by so-called patent trolls a startling 54 times-more than once a week."
Some argue that the best way to stop patent trolls from taking advantage of the system would be to eliminate software patents completely and pass a law that makes software unpatentable. Would this be fair to software and technology companies Why or why not