Patent News


Jan. 12, 2017

Lex Machina: Q4 2016 Litigation Update, by Brian Howard

This post originally appeared in Lex Machina on January 12, 2017.


In the final quarter of 2016, plaintiffs filed 1,140 patent cases, bringing the total for 2016 to 4,520 patent cases.

The fourth quarter represents a slight increase over the third quarter’s 1,126 cases, but overall litigation in 2016 has declined by a moderate 22% from 2015 (when 5,823 cases were filed).  Month by month, 2016 has been relatively consistent compared to the dramatic spike in 2015 caused by the end of Form 18.

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