Prof. Paul Janicke at the University of Houston Law Center is an expert on patent litigation statistics. He recently sent me a note about some recent trends in the filing of patent complaints.
Over the last three years, patent lawsuit filings have been fairly steady at around 2,700 annually. This year to date they seemed on track to stay at that level or a little higher, with filings through Oct. 31 standing at 2,327. However, filings in recent months are down about 20%, possibly due to the general financial conditions of September and October. |
Patent Suits filed in September and October (all districts):
Year | Filings in Sept.-Oct. |
2008 | 409 |
2007 | 513 |
2006 | 486 |
Eastern District of Texas patent suit filings in September and October:
Year | ED Tex Filings in Sept.-Oct. |
2008 | 55 |
2007 | 68 |
2006 | 59 |
