SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Intellectual property has often been contentious as legislators try to balance the rights of intellectual property owners against progress and innovation. There is a fine line between promoting innovation and propping up monopolies to the detriment of competition, and poorly written, executed, or interpreted laws can promote poor policy. Most notoriously, this is seen with the rise of patent trolls, who do not really produce anything, but amass portfolios of patents for the purpose of suing alleged infringers and demanding licensing fees to keep products on the market. While some studies suggest that trolling activity has declined in recent years, trade secrets have emerged as a new avenue for filing lawsuits and extracting revenue through the legal system rather than innovating and creating new products.