Innovators need protection from 'patent trolls'

In my West Loop Chicago neighborhood, $350,000 can buy you a pretty nice condo. Or it can pay for four years of college and three years of law school -- in full, no loans. But instead of investing in a law degree, I spent my $350,000 on legal fees and lost revenue, defending myself against predatory litigation that was totally without merit. Today, I have less than $3,000 to my name. After carefully saving my money when I served our country in two wars, as an Air Force combat pilot and later putting away savings during my employment at Credit Suisse, I invested my nest egg -- $350,000 worth -- into launching my tech startup, Jump Rope. But now my decade of savings have been wiped out after a bogus patent-infringement lawsuit.

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