Watch: John Oliver Goes After Patent Trolls

Patents are to inventors as air is to humans: Without the legally binding document, innovators have no proof of their work, and no way to protect against theft.

But the proliferation of patent trolls has threatened creators and their ideas.

And John Oliver isn't standing for it.

The comedian and host of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver used his Sunday show to rail against patent trolls, or faceless enterprises that acquires patents and uses them to sue anyone who appears to infringe.

"At least trolls actually do something," Oliver said. "They control bridge access for goats and ask people fun riddles. Patent trolls just threaten to sue the living s**t out of people."

President Obama mirrored that thought in February 2013, when he spoke about patent reform during a Google Hangout video session. "They don't actually produce anything themselves," he said of patent trolls. "They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them."

And often they do. As pointed out by Oliver, those lawsuits can add up, losing people half a trillion dollars in one year.

The USPTO supervises patents. But in times of big technological change, the sheer volume of requests can become overwhelming, allowing the agency to issue patents to inventions that are not, in fact, "new, useful, and nonobvious," as required.

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"If a troll can get a vaguely defined software patent, they can demand payment for anything that fits that description," Oliver said. "[They] have this process down to such a science."

Congress has been trying for years to get some sort of patent reform on the books. Most recently that includes The Innovation Act, but it does not appear that will get through without a fight.

Whatever the solution, "we have to do something," Oliver said, "or the only viable business left in America is going to be one that relies on no patents whatsoever."