In its annual report on patent disputes, which looks at filings with both the US Patent and Trademark Office and federal district courts, UnifiedPatents found an overall rise of 13 per cent from a year earlier to 5,500. It is the highest number on record.

District court cases

According to UnifiedPatents, ‘non-practicing entities’ (NPEs – businesses that earn money by asserting patents), universities and research institutions, individual inventors and operating companies asserting patents outside their areas of products or services filed 66.9 per cent of district court cases initiated in 2015, an increase from 61 per cent in 2014.

Plaintiff-friendly district

The report also showed the Eastern District of Texas, often seen as plaintiff-friendly, continues to be the most popular place for patent suits, with 64 per cent filed there in 2015. However, a pending federal court ruling that may mean plaintiffs can only sue in venues in which they have a principal place of business could weaken the district’s reputation. Source: Bloomberg BNA