In a recent study, Unified examined district court litigation involving patents asserted against open source solutions. Unified identified approximately 260 district court cases since 2012 that involved open source projects/platforms.

First and foremost, the study revealed that litigation against products and features derived from open source projects has increased since 2012. While the number of cases is still relatively low compared to other sectors of technology, current trends seem to indicate that such open source litigation is becoming more common.

Utilizing the NPE status information provided through Unified’s Portal, the study also revealed that approximately 59% of these open source cases are initiated by NPEs.

A closer examination of these cases revealed that open source reliant “Systems” (such as APIs, operating systems, developer tools, etc.) were targeted about 38% of the time. “Web” products and services (e.g., UI/UX, hosting platforms) were the next most targeted at 27% of all open source cases. For more information about these categories, view Unified’s Open Source Zone definition (available here).

Methodology

This report includes all District Court cases filed between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018.

Total number of reported cases can vary based on what is included. Unified made its best attempt to eliminate mistaken, duplicative, or changes in venue filings, hence the totals may vary slightly compared to other reporting services. Statistics include litigations initiated by NPEs and Declaratory Judgments (DJs) initiated by operating companies against NPEs.

Unified strives to accurately identify NPEs through all available means, such as court filings, public documents, and product documentation.