The IP Preferences of Big Pharma and Big Tech conflict---causes political power to cancel out and beliefs of even politicians to be unphased.

The playing field looks like this: On the one side there are the Googles, Apples, and Oracles of the world, beset by patent infringement lawsuits, who want to weaken the power of patents. On the other side, there's the pharmaceutical industry that spends millions on patenting its drugs and wants to strengthen patents. This side also includes tech companies, such as Qualcomm and Tessera, who rely on their intellectual property for licensing revenue.

One of the biggest sticking points has been damages: Big tech wants Congress to limit how much money inventors can win at trial, while pharma doesn't. They've also been fighting over how easy it is to challenge the validity of a patent.

Like a match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the punches and counterpunches thrown by two heavyweight industries have made it nearly impossible for a bill to advance. With lobbying money pouring in from both sides, how's a politician to know what to do?