Patent Law

RPX says NPE litigation fraction is on the rise in 2009

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

According to Patent Freedom statistics, in 2008 there were 2,806 patent cases in the United States. Of these, 359 ? or 12.8% ? were NPE-driven suits. Looking at PACER and Lexis/Nexis data through June 30 of this year, we see that while overall patent litigation activity has actually slowed, the incidence of NPE cases is higher. There were only 1,318 patent cases at the halfway point of 2009, but of these 224 were NPE cases (a 25% increase in activity). Fully 17% of the US patent cases filed in the first six months this year were NPE-driven.

IPBiz has previously discussed academic work by Jay Kesan and separately by Mark Lemley (in collaboration with Intellectual Ventures) on the topic of the influence of non-practicing entities [NPEs] on patent litigation.

RPX has an economic interest in "how severe" NPE-based patent litigation is, or appears to be.

Full post as published by IPBiz on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).