Patent trolls decrease innovation by creating diminishing returns on investments, deterring capital

IP consulting and law firm; What are patent trolls, and how do they affect innovation?; https://www.dennemeyer.com/ip-blog/news/what-are-patent-trolls-and-how-do-they-affect-innovation/

Victims of patent trolls suffer serious impacts, including significant market losses, waylaid research and legal or reputational costs. Faced with these consequences, defendants and their peers often change tack in one of two ways. The first option is to increase innovation. A current or potential victim may boost research and development spending to work around exerted patent claims and limit future troll behavior. However, as found by the Canadian study, this activity often creates fewer or lower-value patents. It is reasonable to hypothesize that rushed or panicked developments completed under legal threat do not meaningfully benefit the state of the art. The second approach is to reduce innovation activities in response to patent trolling. A victim may feel cornered or restricted, forced to abandon a particular product, process or line of investigation. Much like the first response, this reduces market diversity and hurts the balance of competition. In turn, this can increase prices for consumers while fostering monopolies for companies better able to resist or weather unfair practices. Naturally, the disadvantage is significantly skewed toward smaller entities, whose limited reach and resources make them softer prey.