In his latest investigative report on the show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver takes a look at the mess that the US patent system has become and why it needs to be reformed. His report just looks at the way that patent trolls use the legal system for what is in effect a shakedown.

He does not even touch on other abuses such as drug companies that make trivial changes to their product to delay the expiration dates on their patents in order to cheaper prevent generics from coming into the market, or those same companies making appeals for extensions that they know they will lose but that enable them to drag the patents out for several more years, similar to the way that entertainment industry giants like Disney that have successfully managed to get Congress to extend the copyright period before their creations enter the public domain.