Due to aggressive lobbying campaign by large tech companies like IBM and Microsoft an important provision aimed against patent trolls was struck down in the House of Representatives.

A patent troll is a person or firm holding patents with no real products based on such patents. These patent trolls file low-quality software patents which are then used for lawsuits against other companies for allegedly infringing its intellectual property.

Patent litigations in 2012 cost the economy $29 billion according to a study made by James Bessen and Michael Meuer. This spurred to reform the current patent system to counter patent trolls.

The prominent feature of the proposed patent reform bill is its provision expanding the "covered business method" (CBM) program. CBM provides for a speedy process for the Patent Office to reject low-quality software patents. Under the said bill, patents will be subject to greater scrutiny. This will lessen the weapons used by patent trolls against other companies.

Companies that had been targeted by patent litigations believe that the expansion must be broader.

"Ideally we'd like to see it expanded further to all business method pantents," says Matt Levy, an attorney at the Computer and Communications Industry Association, in a report by The Washington Post.

The provision on CBM program, however, was greatly opposed by companies with large patent portfolios like IBM and Microsoft. They claimed that the proposal "could harm U.S. innovators by unnecessarily undermining the rights of patent holders. Subjecting data processing patents to the CBM program would create uncertainty and risk that discourage investment in any number of fields where we should be trying to spur continued innovation."

As a result of the massive lobbying by IBM and Microsoft, the CBM provisions were stricken off the bill. But, the fight against patent trolls is not over.

"Creating a low-cost alternative to litigation in order to address the poor-quality patents that are currently plaguing startups and small businesses is a corner stone of effective reform," Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a report by The Washington Post.

CBM expansion still has a powerful ally in the person of Schumer.