The USPTO planned to have a new computer program up and running by March 2 to calculate subsequent patent term adjustments.

FORBES: Novartis Challenges USPTO Patent Extension Policy

The appeals court held that the agency had misinterpreted both the law governing patent term length and a clause barring the double-counting of overlapping prosecution delays.

FORBES: Novartis Challenges USPTO Patent Extension Policy

The term "patent troll" describes firms that acquire patents so that they can later extract settlements from companies on infringement claims.

BBC: BT Tower

But while Cannata and patent investors like Rembrandt claim to be protecting the rights of inventors, their detractors believe they are simply well-financed patent trolls--a derisive term used to describe companies with no operations other than suing big business over patents.

FORBES: Patent Payday

Yes, Merck or Pfizer has honestly earned the government-issue, fixed-term monopoly that we call a patent.

FORBES: Gouging The Drug Companies

Patent reform: very important for our long-term competitiveness.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama��s News Conference on the American Jobs Act

While such patents -- a term believed to have been coined by the Japanese Patent office -- have been exploited from time to time since 1965 when they were first identified in the Patent Examiners' Handbook, there are available remedies well short of legislation that would effectively undermine the entire U.S. patent system.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy