Utah Attorney General Ask Feds to Crack Down on Patent Trolls

Acting Utah Attorney General Brian Tarbet is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate patent trolls.

Tarbet joined 42 other attorneys general seeking relief. They say patent trolls are making problems for small business and stifling innovation.

In a letter to the FTC, they say operators are buying and turning patents into weapons to extract money from consumers, nonprofit organizations and small businesses using off-the-shelf commercial technology – often printers, scanners and wireless routers.