How to beat a patent troll and the patent system in general

Another great TED.com video to watch. I will be pulling stuff from memory so feel free to comment with corrections or additions.

Note: Drew is a new hero of mine and fark.com is one of my new favorite websites (based totally on the charisma in this video)

The patent system has been totally subverted for years (maybe decades).  I remember reading around ten years ago (I do not remember the magazine) an article about how at that time two companies owned around 90% of the patents.  First, let me be one to say that I do not think corporations should be treated as people and only a person (or team of people) should be able to own a patent.  In the article, if my rusty memory serves, talked about how before the Internet bubble burst companies would patent troll other companies.  One of the major companies that had a majority of patents acquired those patents by having a team of engineers writing and submitting proposals. 

As mentioned in the video above this hurts innovation and drains economic development.  Perhaps patents should be only maintained if viable progress has been made in leveraging it commercially (weather yourself or by leasing it) or else it becomes public domain.  Now of course the issue is much more complicated, but just wanted to put an idea out there.

oh, and way to go Drew!