None of these have been decided by the new Patent Trials and Appeals Board, but they will be interesting to watch to see to what degree they provide a thorough and fair way to litigate disputes of patent validity.

FORBES: A Powerful New Weapon Against Patent Trolls

One would let an alleged infringer of a patent challenge its validity at the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), rather than going to court.

ECONOMIST: Intellectual property

The problem is that the PTO has proposed rules for implementing supplemental examination that would require the patent owner to mount an assault in detail on the validity of his own patent.

FORBES: New Patent Regs May Inspire More Litigation, Not Less

This case and others challenging the validity of patent protection call into question whether the patent office is abdicating its role of supporting inventors, both big and small, instead becoming an impediment to American innovation.

FORBES: The smother of invention

Her method for probing the validity of a patent often starts with a Google search, moving on to Wikipedia and more obscure troves, like Japanese patent databases translated into English.

WSJ: Tech Firms Crowd-Source to Fight Suits

They have just one ally in the current patent litigation landscape: NPEs that have the expertise to determine the validity of their claim, and the resources necessary to pursue it to a final judgment of infringement.

FORBES: Not So Scary, After All: In Defense Of Patent Trolls