James Bessen, Jennifer Ford, and Michael J. Meurer have the ugly data.

We find that NPE lawsuits are associated with half a trillion dollars of lost wealth to defendants from 1990 through 2010. During the last four years, the lost wealth has averaged over $80 billion per year.

I know somebody who thinks we need to fix the patent system in order to Launch the Innovation Renaissance. My only quibble is that I do not think his reforms go far enough.