2016 US patent case filing update
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2016 US patent case filing update

US district court patent lawsuits by month line chart 168

With one month to go, 2016 is averaging 378 cases filed in US district courts a month – way down from a 508 monthly average for the whole of 2013, 418 in 2014 and 481 in 2015

US district court patent litigation by month

2013

2014

2015

2016

January

486

330

446

276

February

547

447

492

300

March

403

499

510

392

April

604

681

391

458

May

502

387

608

385

June

484

415

654

459

July

476

421

478

419

August

521

397

309

403

September

552

320

327

317

October

515

340

439

395

November

578

334

840

354

December

422

439

279

Total for year

6090

5010

5773

4158

Average monthly cases filed

507.5

417.5

481.1

378.0

Source: Docket Navigator

2016 US district court filing will finish down on recent years. According to figures taken from the Docket Navigator database, the 354 cases filed in November brought filing for the year to 4158 cases.

This means it would take a record month of filing in December for it to catch up to the full-year figures of 6090 cases in 2013, 5010 cases in 2014 and 5773 cases in 2015. For reference, the 840 cases filed last November was the busiest ever month. That was prompted by a change in filing rules (and may also have been responsible for 2016’s sluggish start, with filers bringing planned litigation forward).

As of the end of November, 2016 was averaging 378 cases a month – way down from 2013’s monthly average of 508 cases, 2014’s 418 cases and 2015’s 481 cases.

Managing IP will run a full analysis of 2016 filing – including revealing the top plaintiffs, defendants and law firms, as well as the trends influencing filing figures – early in January 2017. 

US district court lawsuits Dec 8.

US district court lawsuits line chart dec 8







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