Today Lex Machina is releasing its 4th annual Patent Litigation Year in Review Report and offering a webex to

review the report at 11 am est/ 2pm est. The report analyzes filing trends, key decisions and timing of key events, settlement rates, damages and other key metrics. The report highlights top districts by case filings, top plaintiffs and defendants and law firms representing them. The report also shows top parties willing damages and median award of damages by district courts. The report examines the relationships between finding of infringement and fair use and judgement types ( e.g. default, summary etc.) This year’s report includes two new special sections: 1) a review of the Eastern District of Texas and 2) a party profile of the leading plaintiff.

The most dramatic finding is a 22% decline in patent cases filed in 2016 compared to 2015
 The press release quotes Owen Byrd, chief evangelist and general counsel of Lex Machina, regarding the decline in patent litigation: “While it is too soon to tell whether the decline represents a sea change or a one-year anomaly, we will certainly be keeping a close eye on the filing number in the year to come.”
Here are some key findings:
  • In 2016, 4,537 patent cases were filed — a 22% decline from 2015 (5,819 cases)
  • The Eastern District of Texas continues to lead the nation with 1,662 cases – nearly 37% of all cases filed, yet a 34% decrease over the district’s 2015 total (2,541 cases)
  • This is the fourth year in a row that Judge Gilstrap had the most patent cases of any judge
  • Samsung again leads LG Electronics and Apple as the most-sued patent defendant in 2016 
  • Tech and pharmaceutical companies comprise the top 10, with Amazon, Asus, Actavis and AT&T among the top patent defendants
  • The top 15 parties that filed the most patent lawsuits in 2016 were all patent monetization entities (PMEs) except Whirlpool Corporation (ranked #15)
  • Shipping and Transit (107 cases), Uniloc (87 cases) and Sportbrain Holdings (75 cases) filed more patent suits than the next eight companies combined
  • Compensatory damages continue to be awarded in few cases, around 1.8 % of the terminated cases filed since the year 2000.
  • $3.49b of compensatory damages were awarded in patent cases in 2016

    • The Live Webcast Lex Machina will host a webcast today covering the highlights of the report. To register for the live event, please visit: http://pages.lexmachina.com/Webcast_Patent-Report-2016-21617_LP—Patent-Webcast—Social.html
    Full Copy of Report To request a copy of the full report please register here: http://pages.lexmachina.com/Email_Patent-Report-2016_LP—Social.html