I think this is the main problem, rather than companies owning patents they do not implement, and suing the ones that do without a licence.
There are so many bogus patents being granted. Prior art search done by patent clerks, from what I have read, can just be searching existing patents. So if something was invented long ago but never patented, then that might not even be caught in a search, even if there are many web pages or academic papers that describe that prior art. And like you said, they may not be able to realise that the invention is actually obvious, because they are not subject matter experts.
There is another problem where the patent is valid but the defendant's product does not violate it. It is often too expensive for the victim to litigate it in court. Depending on the jurisdiction, the plaintiff may not even have to tell you exactly which patents they are alleging that you have violated, until they sue you. So you cannot even check whether their claim is reasonable.
It needs to be easier and cheaper to challenge bad patents and false claims of infringement.
There are so many bogus patents being granted. Prior art search done by patent clerks, from what I have read, can just be searching existing patents. So if something was invented long ago but never patented, then that might not even be caught in a search, even if there are many web pages or academic papers that describe that prior art. And like you said, they may not be able to realise that the invention is actually obvious, because they are not subject matter experts.
There is another problem where the patent is valid but the defendant's product does not violate it. It is often too expensive for the victim to litigate it in court. Depending on the jurisdiction, the plaintiff may not even have to tell you exactly which patents they are alleging that you have violated, until they sue you. So you cannot even check whether their claim is reasonable.
It needs to be easier and cheaper to challenge bad patents and false claims of infringement.