How do non-practicing entities ("Patent Trolls") impact innovation and technological progress? Although this question …", who exploit the patent system to extract rents and thereby hurt innovation. We employ unprecedented access to NPE … also find that downstream innovation drops in fields where patents have been acquired by NPEs. Finally, our numerical …

the social benefits of their innovations if innovation is to be suitably rewarded and encouraged. However, this paper … deadweight loss associated with the patent system and discourage innovation by others. Economic efficiency is promoted if rewards … the patent system designed to spur innovation by better aligning the rewards and contributions of patent holders …