Overview

Overall patent litigation was down a bit and the PTAB was up a bit as budgets tightened down with the lackluster economic performance. NPEs both Patent Assertion Entities and Aggregators continued to increase their activities. NPEs continued to be the largest number of filers.

Highlights:

• In general, District court filings were down 10.6% year-to-year. Operating Company based assertions are down 8.5% year-to-year from 1,375 to 1,259. NPE (Small Company) and NPE (Individuals) were down 16.3%, however NPE (Patent Assertion Entities) remained steady with 1,756 filings versus 1,754 in 2021. 

• PTAB filings are up overall with an 11.4% increase in NPE related filings. 

• Even with the standing orders issued, NPEs filed 31% of their cases in TXWD - more than all patent-related cases in Delaware or any other venue.

• NPE Aggregators such as IP Edge or Softbank/Fortress brought nearly 40% of all cases. 

• 45% of all NPE Aggregator Cases were brought by IP Edge entities. 

• About 30% of lawsuits appear to be backed by third-party financing. 

• Reexaminations filings increased 15% from 2021.

Figure 1: Overall the district court was down 10.6% year-to-year, but remained flat when compared to its 5-year average. PTAB filings went up, with an 11.4% increase in NPE related filings . Reexaminations continued to gain steam filings were up 15% versus last year. 

Figure 2: Nearly 60% of all patent litigation in 2022 stem from NPEs, matching its 7-year average.

Figure 3: At the PTAB, 40% of challenges were NPE related in 2022.

Figure 4: PAEs are responsible for 50% of all suits brought in 2022.

Figure 5: The Western District of Texas continued to be the most popular venue in 2022. 

Figure 6: Judge Albright’s caseload has dropped in 2022 on a month-to-month basis, but 61% of all WDTX patent cases still remain on his docket. 

Figure 7: Even with the standing orders issued, NPEs continue to gamble in the Western District of Texas with 389 NPE filings in the first half and 302 NPE filings in the second half of 2022. 

Figure 8: High-Tech litigation continued to dominate both district courts and the PTAB in 2022. 

District Court

Figure 9: Operating company litigation dropped by 8.5% versus last year, but NPE litigation was nearly the same.

Figure 10: Cedar Lane continued to be the most litigious stand-alone entity, but Bell Semiconductor was not far behind filing over 100 cases in 2022. 

Figure 11: Alphabet and Samsung continued to be the most named defendants. Walmart made into the top-10 as they were sued on various back-end technologies.  

Figure 12: Nearly 40% of all cases were brought by NPE Aggregators such as IP Edge or Softbank/Fortress. A more detailed report is forthcoming of both aggregations and third party litigation funding. 

Figure 13: IP Edge entities account for 45% of all NPE Aggregator Cases. Hilco entered the top-five with a series of suits related to semiconductors with entity Bell Semiconductor. It should also be noted that Acacia coming in at 13th most litigious NPE Aggregator through its acquisitions of the former Yahoo/Verizon portfolio has been actively asserted R2 Solutions patents. In late December Acacia asserted against Hilton, 7-Eleven, GameStop, and Southwest after also asserting against America Airlines, Hilton, CVS, and Citigroup in March. 

Figure 14: Nearly 30% of patent cases were backed by third-party financing in 2022. Most funding is directed to NPEs. 

Figure 15: Nearly 70% of all district court litigation in 2022 was related to the high-tech sector. 

Figure 16: NPEs targeted high-tech companies 95% of the time in 2022, while non-NPEs targeted high-tech companies only 27% of the time.

Figure 17: NPEs bring over 88% of high-tech litigation in 2022.

PTAB Disputes

Figure 18: NPE related filings increased by 11.4% from 561 to 633 in 2022. 

Figure 19: Consistent with district court proceedings, approximately 67.7% of all PTAB petitions filed in 2022 involved High-Tech companies. 

Figure 20: Approximately 54% of all AIA challenges filed in 2022 involved High-Tech companies petitioning NPE-controlled patents. Explore this data further on Unified’s Portal.

Figure 21: IPRs remained the most popular post-grant proceeding, claiming 76.4% of all post-grant proceedings in 2022. Reexaminations were the second most popular, accounting for nearly 21.5% of all patent challenges at the USPTO. Explore this data further on Unified’s Portal.

Figure 22: Apple led the PTAB in filings, followed by Samsung, Google and Unified Patents. 

Figure 23: It is no surprise that 9 out of the top 10 patent owners at the PTAB were NPEs. As noted before, 34 IPR petitions were filed against Ericsson's by Apple in its ongoing FRAND battle that was recently settled.

Reexaminations

Figure 24: Reexaminations are up 15% versus last year with 367 filings.

Definitions

Sectors

High-Tech = Technologies relating to Software, Hardware, and Networking

Medical = Technologies relating to Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Health Related Technologies

Other = Technologies relating to Mechanical, Packaged Goods, Sporting Equipment and any other area outside of high-tech and medical patents.

Entities

Non Practicing Entity (NPE) = Company which derives the majority of its total revenue from Patent Licensing activities.

Operating Company or Op. Co. = Company which derives most of its total revenue from Product Sales or Services. Could be an SME or a large company.

Other Entity = Universities / Non-Profits / Government / Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

NPE (Patent Assertion Entities) = Entity whose primary activity is licensing patents and acquired most of its patents from another entity

NPE (Small Company) = Entity whose original activity was providing products and services, but now is primarily focused on monetizing its own patent portfolio.

NPE (Individual) = Entity owned or controlled by an individual inventor who is primarily focused on monetizing inventions patents by that individual inventor.

NPE Aggregator = Entity that has control or ownership over two or more entities. 

Venues

CACD = Central District of California

CAND = Northern District of California

DED = Delaware

NJD = New Jersey

NDIL = Northern District of Illinois

SDNY = Southern District of New York

TXED = Eastern District of Texas

TXWD = Western District of Texas

Methodology

This report includes all District Court and PTAB litigations between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2022 .

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 entities. Statistics include litigations initiated by NPEs or 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.

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