Patent Lawsuits on Track to Top 6,000 This Year

Summary: With no single reason for the growth in patent litigation, the trend is likely to keep growing even if reforms are passed at some point this year.

Patent litigation has risen significantly this year. In the first six months of this year, there have been over 3,000 lawsuits. This is an increase of 11 percent from last year and the highest number of new district court cases on record. In the second quarter, there have been 1,656 new lawsuits filed, the most for any quarter.

Data collecting Lex Machina ’s chief executive officer, Josh Becker, stated that “at this rate, 2015 is on track to exceed 6,000 cases by the end of the year.” This number would beat 2013’s record. He said that previous trends have shown numbers to dip during the spring to summer time.

The Unified Patents finding were similar to Lex Machina’s. Both found that nonpracticing entities made up a significant number of the cases. Unified Patents says 68 percent of the new cases were filed by NPEs. Last year the number was slightly lower.

Ninety percent of patent cases come from NPEs in the high-tech sector. Last year it was 85 percent. The Eastern District of Texas has regained its position as the busiest district in the country with 45 percent of all cases filed in the district.

The increase of cases is believed to be partially because of the expected patent reforms to be passed sometime this year but this is not the only reason since numbers have been high and steady all year. There is a good chance that the numbers will start to drop this month.

Source: http://www.corpcounsel.com/home/id=1202732070747

Photo: patentlawcenter.pli.edu