2016 could be slowest year for US patent litigation since 2011: report

This year looks set to be the slowest for US patent lawsuits since 2011, according to intellectual property litigation research company Lex Machina.

The company released the “2016 Third Q uarter Litigation Trends” yesterday, October 11.

In the first three quarters of the year, 3,376 patent claims were filed, compared with 4,251 cases in the first three quarters of 2015 and 3,953 in 2014. Just 2,484 cases were filed in the first three quarters of 2011.

The Q3 results also show a decrease in patent filings compared to Q2.

Plaintiffs filed 1,127 patent cases at district courts in Q3, a decrease of 12.6% from 1,289 cases. However, this Q3 figure is higher than that for Q1, when 960 cases were filed.

The proportion of new filings at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas held “nearly steady” in Q3 at 35.4%, or 1,195 cases, which is “down slightly” from 37% in Q2 but is up from Q1 (30%).

The other most popular districts by patent cases filed from Q1 to Q3 were the District of Delaware with 309 cases, the Central District of California with 243 and the District of New Jersey with 158.

At the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, new filings for covered business method reviews “declined to single digits” for the “first time since 2013”.

But, the number of inter partes review petitions has “recovered” from a low figure in Q1, which saw 335 petitions, to 436 petitions in Q3. This number, according to Lex Machina, is “more consistent” with the last two years of activity.

The report can be viewed in full here.