Bear in mind that Congress hasn't done anything to change the types of things that can be patented; under the Act, the patent for thermal refreshing of bread wo

Bear in mind that Congress hasn't done anything to change the types of things that can be patented; under the Act, the patent for thermal refreshing of bread would still be appropriate. Software patents are still all the same. The critical part there is how, as you noted, "most troll patents come from small entities." Raising the cost and time of obtaining a patent will have only a modest effect in stopping people from attempting to file for these weak patents, but will have a major effect in compelling them to assign the patents to larger, better-capitalized entities with greater capabilities in pushing the patents through the process, like IV. It is counterintuitive. I wouldn't have thought this would be the result had I not seen the same thing happen in securities litigation: Congress attacked the nuisance suits and ended up making the biggest securities law firms far stronger and more profitable. Counterintuitive, but demonstrated empirically in another field.