Patent trolls wreck open-source projects.

“...Open source projects and their maintainers are uniquely vulnerable to attack by hostile parties such as patent trolls (sometimes called “non-practicing entities”) and companies rent-seeking over so-called standard-essential patents. The projects and their non-profit fiduciary hosts are not of a scale to be able to manage the usual defenses of large corporations, while the individuals themselves may seem worthwhile targets for avaricious litigators. When a project faces a patent attack, it is thus frequently defended by others as a matter of civic duty.

The rule changes that the Patent and Trademark Office propose would greatly limit the ability of open source projects to be defended by these third parties. This would both chill the innovation and progress arising from open source software - which contributes billions to GDP - as well as embolden malicious litigators seeking reward where they have no claim simply because their victim is unable to defend themselves…” – Open Source Initiative (Public charity advocating for and enabling the benefits of Open Source)

“I am from the Linux Foundation and I support the collaborative development of software under free and open source licenses. A sad reality is that non-practicing entities (NPEs) have been targeting users of open source software and open source foundations with patent litigation…

…I am deeply concerned about the impact of the proposed changes on the open source software community that relies on third-party entities to protect the openly developed commons of technology that we are all dependent upon. There are seemingly political motivations at play here. The ANPRM's proposed expansion of discretionary denials and de facto standing requirements will leave invalid patents in force to be asserted in litigation against open source foundations and companies like ours.” – J. Bonner, Linux Foundation (Linux Foundation provides a neutral, trusted hub for developers to code, manage, and scale open technology projects.)

“Nearly all of the rules you proposed will make it harder to challenge poor-quality patents. If implemented, these rules will make it harder to defend open source software against bad patents in the hands of patent trolls. OSS is a pillar of the entire US tech economy, and misguided intellectual property rules like this will hurt growth in the US economy as a whole.” – Gluu Inc. (Gluu curates and commercializes a distribution of the world’s best open-source digital identity infrastructure projects)