Patent Litigation Statistics

Professor Paul Janicke of The University of Houston Law Center released a study last year that analyzed patent litigation statistics (link). Earlier this year, Paul released an updated statistical analysis of recent patent litigation and remedies, and presented his findings in a handy Power-Point presentation, along with some observations.

In 2005, 14% of disputed patent cases that were adjudicated. Of that 14%, 7.2% were adjudicated on summary judgment, while only 3.3% reached a full jury or a bench trial. In 2006, 13.5% of disputed patent cases were adjudicated (7% SJ, 3.3% trial).

The number of patent cases peaked in 2004, with 3,075, and dipped in 2005 with 2,720 cases. In 2006, the number of cases increased again to 2,830.

Over the last 20 years, the number of disposed cases more than doubled, from 1,013 in 1986 to 2,362 in 2004. The rates of adjudication dipped a bit during this time, going from 19% to 14% during the same period (settlements went from 81% to 86%).

The duration of litigated cases for FY06 is illustrated in the chart below. The yellow bar represents defaults, the dark green bars are mainly summary judgments, the light green bars are trials, and the bright green bar is a mix of late dispositions:



The busiest patent jurisdictions for FY06 are shown below:

Counsel fees and related costs according to the 2005 AIPLA survey show that, on a nationwide median involving cases greater than $25M, each party will spend $4.5M litigating a patent case. In cases of contingency fee representation, the number is probably much lower.

The most interesting observation is the amount of damages awarded to the winning party. The median winning verdict was calculated to be approximately $4.2M.

Regarding injunctions, the eBay decision bumped the rate of denials from 16% to 25%. The analyzed cases are tabulated below:

Download Paul Janicke, "Patent Litigation Remedies" (link)