Federal Circuit Appeals from District Court Settle Quickly

RPX data reveal that when Federal Circuit appeals of district court patent cases end in settlement, they do so fairly quickly. For appeals dismissed from 2014 through October 2020, the median time to dismissal is just 134 days for district court infringement suits where the manner of dismissal indicates a likely settlement—meaning, where a case ends with an unopposed, stipulated, voluntary, or otherwise uncontested dismissal, or when the parties consent to judgment. Moreover, the time to settlement at the 25th percentile is a mere 68 days, while cases at the 75th percentile settle in 281 days.