Major companies in the US have urged lawmakers to pass bills to protect new products against what they called "extortive demands" on patents. These companies included Google, Wal-Mart, Dell and Morgan Stanley.

Numerous companies raised their concern against abusive use of patent litigation. The latter has hit many of these firms with lawsuits known as "patent trolls" that buy intellectual property and seek money from companies that may violate on these patents.

A total of 44 companies urged support for bills that would broaden the power of the Patent and Trademark Office in the US. This was stated in a letter addressed to top Republicans and Democrats in the Congress. The letter also stated that the US patent and trademark authority should be given wider scope to review patents and invalidate any rulings seen that should have not been granted in the first place.

The patent office currently has power to review business method patents relating to financial services. The patent office pays more attention to business method patents than any other patents. With the proposed legislation, the patent office will expand its authority to all business method patents.