This is depressing to read, and I think he is wrong, but the more I think about this, the more I think reforming patent issuance is not going to be as helpful a

This is depressing to read, and I think he is wrong, but the more I think about this, the more I think reforming patent issuance is not going to be as helpful as we think. Think about it - if the PTO stopped issuing software patents today, we'd still have over a decade of software patent litigation. The real problem is our legal system - it is too expensive for a someone accused of patent violations to defend themselves. Even if you win, you are still going to be bankrupt or severely weakened by legal fees, and all you've "won" is the right to continue doing what you were doing in the first place. This is the only reason patent trolling is so successful - nobody can fight back. Start requiring entities who file patent infringement (and other) lawsuits pay the defendants legal fees if they lose, and require an upfront bond (because otherwise they'd just sue with shell companies and declare bankruptcy if they lost). Everyone is going to be concerned about how this hurts the proverbial "little guy" and his ability to sue a big company that has taken his idea, but the little guy is already getting screwed by patent trolls - a big company like Google or Apple has the resources to fight patent litigation, but even one lawsuit is likely to be lethal for a small company. If the "little guy" is going to get hurt either way, I'd rather we tilt things to be in favor of the defendants.