Sure hope our Board of Idiots are aware of this....

What: Shares of VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEMKT:VHC) rose more than 18% Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for so-called patent trolls to win additional damages in patent infringement lawsuits.

So what: The Supreme Court struck down a patent-law precedent created by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which Chief Justice John Roberts ruled had set too-strict requirements to determine whether infringement was willful. With these requirements relaxed, it's easier for patent holders to win "treble damages" -- or triple the amount of actual monetary damages.

More specifically, the decision alters the meaning of a provision of patent law that states lower courts "may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed," but it doesn't specifically set guidelines for when those damages should be awarded, therefore leaving the discretion of when to award up to the court. What's more, such enhanced damages were rare, according to Roberts, as "it requires a finding of objective recklessness in every case."