Professor Mark A. Lemley discusses the possible effects of legislation on patent trolling in the following article by Dan Radovsky of the Motley Fool.

Are we finally seeing a tectonic shift toward common sense in the sometimes-nonsensical world of high-tech patent infringement lawsuits?

First, one month ago, the highly respected -- and iconoclastic -- Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner poured cold water on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) patent trespassing claims against Motorola Mobility, a unit of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG).

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And those bills can really mount up. Mark Lemley, director of Stanford University's law, science, and technology program, said that Apple and Google "have paid their lawyers more than $400 million" in their patent battles over the past several years. And as of last January, Apple is rumored to have spent $100 million in its lawsuit with HTC over allegedly stealing Apple technology for its Android mobile devices.