Former attorney general and federal judge Michael B. Mukasey has an important op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today on the national-security implications of a patent-law scam.

In essence, finance companies — often foreign, and hostile to American interests — bankroll what are known as “nonpracticing entities.” These NPEs generally do not conceive or perform creative work. To the contrary, they are shell companies that buy up patents that are of poor quality but are articulated broadly; they then file vexatious lawsuits against U.S. innovators. This ties our visionaries up in court, forcing them to divert resources that, as Judge Mukasey observes, “would instead be dedicated to producing the cutting edge technologies that will keep America safe and prosperous.”

He goes on to explain how Congress took steps in 2011 to crack down on NPEs, and how there has since been backsliding. It makes little sense, he points out, to enact such legislation as the recent Chips Act, which aims to invest in domestic production of semiconductors and other vital technologies, unless we minimize lawfare that will otherwise undermine the effort.

Read the whole thing here.