http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2005-05-02-patent-reform_x.htm

Chip giant Intel, Segway scooter inventor Dean Kamen and a 20-person holograph-making firm from Vermont are among those lobbying Congress to change a troubled patent system they say costs the tech industry billions.

The long-underfunded patent office takes years to review some applications and many patents are improperly granted because examiners lack technical expertise, according to testimony to Congress last week from tech firms, universities and other inventors.

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Patents — crucial to tech firms because intellectual property is often their most valuable asset — are contested in court, creating a flood of costly litigation, those inventors and companies said.