Patents By The Numbers: Average Wait Time Is Down, But Trolls Cost Us $80 Billion A Year

Starting last fall and stretching through mid-2013, the U.S. has been overhauling the patent-approval process for the first time since 1952. The biggest change: our first-to-invent system, which favors creators, will become a first-to-file system, which favors . . . whoever files first. Uncle Sam says the reform will speed innovation. Our experts check the numbers. [read]

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