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Santa Clara University School of Law documents that lawsuits brought by 'patent assertion companies' (non-practicing entities or NPEs) constitute 61% of all patent cases filed in 2012, marking the takeover of the patent system by rent-seeking entities rather than actual innovators. This represents the culmination of a decade-long explosion: GAO data shows NPE suits grew from 19% of all cases in 2007 to 49% in 2011, surpassing operating companies (which dropped from 76% to 51%) and reaching absolute majority by 2012. The systematic targeting of small businesses intensifies: nearly 2,900 small firms (under $100 million revenue) were sued in 2011, up from 800 in 2005—a 363% increase. These defendants have median annual revenue of just $10.3 million and typically lack resources to fight litigation costing $1-3 million through trial. NPEs exploit this asymmetry to extract settlements of $300,000-$5 million—less than defense costs but pure profit for trolls. Boston University finds that although large firms accrued over half of the $29 billion in direct costs, 'most of the defendants were small or medium-sized firms,' making this primarily a small business tax. The patent system has been systematically captured: designed to incentivize inventors, it now operates as a protection racket where non-innovators extract rents from actual producers. This exemplifies institutional capture where procedural rules (discovery costs, venue shopping, litigation expense) create extractive opportunities divorced from innovation merit.