From reports on NPR to an episode of "Maron," stories about abusive patent claims have become a popular topic, with episodes bearing such ominous names as “When Patents Attack!” Efforts to legislate against such claims have stalled in Congress, but 18 states have passed their own “anti-troll” legislation. The problem, of course, is that the ability to transfer and enforce a patent is central to the value of the constitutionally guaranteed “exclusive right” to a limited monopoly intended to promote the “Progress of Science and Useful Arts.”