Interchange Project

Everything wrong with the U.S. patent system in one hour

If you want to know why so many people are complaining about the U.S. patent system, how it stifles innovation and what exactly a patent troll is, I highly recommend you listen to This American Life’s episode on the subject:

Why would a company rent an office in a tiny town in East Texas, put a nameplate on the door, and leave it completely empty for a year? The answer involves a controversial billionaire physicist in Seattle, a 40 pound cookbook, and a war waging right now, all across the software and tech industries.