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How are the current laws any more favorable to the little guy? In the current situation, patent trolls "win" against small businesses, because even if you fight the patent and win, you still are severely damaged - if not bankrupted - by the legal fees.

I would far rather have the lion's share of the risk be assigned to the plaintiff.

>If I am a lone engineer who has just invented the perfect fuel source and GE rips it off, I have no recourse, because they can hire $50 million worth of lawyers and if she can't beat them in court, she's stuck with an impossible bill.

Yeah, that's what the ABA says. But in the real world you're going to get stuck with an impossible bill anyway when the deep pocketed people you sue start filing countersuits.

The way US politicians are funded, they do not give a shit about this hypothetical lone inventor. This is just a romantic ideal used by the pro-patent lobby to glamorise patents.

Why can't you make the max payout based on a percentage of the total money spent on the case by the loser.

That way if company A spends $10 million on the case and loses, the winner can recoup say $8 million.

But if Person A spends $50k on a case and loses, the winner can only recoup $40k.

Sounds like you might run into problems similar to US campaign financing law.