This article originally appeared in The Washington Times on June 23, 2015 While America has always stood as a shining symbol of innovation, today’s inventors and job creators face a growing, unbridled threat from predatory entities known as “patent trolls.” Originally enshrined in the United States Constitution to safeguard ingenuity and original creations, the patent system has instead been turned on its head and manipulated into a tool used to harm those it was created to protect. The Founding Fathers knew that strong intellectual property protections were crucial to human progress, and like many of our other liberties, they had the foresight to ensure that they were safeguarded. They wrote Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution to empower Congress to specifically “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” What the Founders did not envision, however, was non-authors and non-inventors gaining rights to these same patents and subverting their intent. Patent trolls are often comprised of one or two individuals hiding behind a fictitious shell corporation. They scour the Internet trying to find vague, near-end patents, buying them up with the goal of filing lawsuits to extort settlements from businesses or individuals who can’t afford the high cost of litigation. They issue threatening letters, demanding payment through licensing fees for the use of ambiguous or commonly-utilized technologies, or threaten to sue. Most small businesses can’t afford the steep costs of litigation and instead are bullied into paying excessive licensing fees.