Lex Machina Releases 2024 Patent Litigation Report

Patent case filings continued the decreasing trend exhibited since 2021, likely driven by the drop in cases filed by high-volume plaintiffs over the same period of time, and case filings before Judge Albright and the Western District of Texas declined in 2023

Menlo Park, CA — Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its annual Patent Litigation Report. The report examines trends in patent litigation in federal district courts, appellate courts, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Focusing on the three-year period from 2021 to 2023, it surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on general patent, high-volume plaintiff, ANDA, PTAB, and federal appellate cases.

“Our data illuminates several intriguing recent trends in patent litigation,” said Elaine Chow, Lex Machina’s patent legal data expert and editor of the report. “In this report, we see a continuation of the recent decrease in general patent case filings, which is likely caused, at least in part, by the drop in cases filed by high-volume plaintiffs. We also see that the Western District of Texas in general, and Judge Albright in particular, both fell from the top of the case filing tables in 2023. These data-backed trends can be linked to external circumstances in the legal profession, such as judicial orders.”

Findings from the report include:

• Highlights in federal district and appellate courts:
  • In 2023, 3,111 patent cases were filed, continuing the steady decline of patent case filings since 2021.
  • The Western District of Texas was the most active district from 2021 to 2023 with 22% of all patent cases filed, though the number of patent cases filed in 2023 in this court dropped significantly compared to the previous two years.
  • Judge Albright was assigned to the highest number of patent cases from 2021 to 2023 with 1,844 cases, though his assigned patent cases in 2023 dropped significantly compared to the previous two years.
  • Ramey represented plaintiffs in the highest number of patent cases filed from 2021 to 2023, and Fish & Richardson represented defendants in the highest number of cases filed in the same three-year period.
  • For patent cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2021 to 2023 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 34% were ultimately reversed.
  • From 2021 to 2023, $6 billion in total damages were awarded as Reasonable Royalty across 129 cases.
• Highlights in PTAB:
  • The number of PTAB petitions filed dropped in 2023.
  • There was a slight increase in instituted trials compared with the data reported in the 2023 Patent Litigation Report (from 51% to 54%).
  • For PTAB cases that were appealed to a federal appellate court and terminated from 2021 to 2023 with a decision on the merits of the appeal, 22% were ultimately reversed.
  • Samsung was the most active petitioner in PTAB petitions filed during the three-year period from 2021 to 2023.
  • Fish & Richardson represented parties in the highest number of petitions filed from 2021 to 2023.

Lex Machina’s reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.

Register here for a copy of the report: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2024-Patent-Report_LP.html

Patent Litigation Report Webcast

Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on February 8, 2024 at noon ET/9am PT with Michael Connelly (President of WIT Legal), Michael Flynn (Partner at Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell), Elaine Chow (Lex Machina’s Legal Data Expert in Patent Litigation), and Aria Nejad (Lex Machina’s in-house counsel). Register for the event or view a recording: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2024-Patent-Report-Webcast_LP.html

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina
Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.
Lex Machina was named one of “Legal Tech’s Most Promising Solution Providers” (CIO Review Awards 2022), “Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022” (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), “Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021” (CIO Review, 2021), “2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer” (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the “Media Excellence” Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.