Q1 2021 Saw More New Filings than Any First Quarter Since 2015 as NPE Activity Spiked
April 14, 2021
A 43.3% increase in patent litigation compared to the same period last year marked 2021’s first quarter, with 1,164 defendants added to patent assertion campaigns (compared to 812 in Q1 2020)—the highest first-quarter filing levels seen since 2015. This overall upswing reflects greater activity by both NPE and operating company plaintiffs, although with a small number of plaintiffs accounting for a significant portion of the latter surge.
| Defendants Added | Change Compared to: | ||||
| Q1 2021 | Q1 2020 | Q1 2018-2020 Average | Q4 2020 | ||
| NPE | 593 | +19.8% | +37.6% | +8.8% | |
| Operating Company | 571 | +80.1% | +60.8% | +8.3% | |
| Total | 1,164 | +43.3% | +48.1% | +8.6% | |
NPEs had their busiest Q1 since 2015, adding 19.8% more defendants than they did in the first quarter of last year (593 compared to 495). Additionally, NPE filings exceeded the trailing Q1 average by 37.6% and were 8.8% higher than the prior quarter. Affiliates of prolific monetization firm IP Edge LLC once again topped the leaderboard, adding 153 defendants in the quarter vs. 106 in Q1 of 2020. Excluding the impact of IP Edge, NPE litigation still increased by 13.6% over the prior year.
The increase in NPE litigation is due in part to the ongoing flood of operating company patent divestments and the continued rise of private equity and third-party litigation finance, as detailed by RPX in this recent report.
For their part, operating companies added 80.1% more defendants than they did in the year-ago quarter, adding 571 defendants (compared to 317 defendants in Q1 2020). However, the Q1 operating company numbers come with a significant caveat, as a single anti-counterfeit suit was responsible for 289, or just over half, of the operating company defendants added during the quarter.
See RPX’s first-quarter review for more on this and other patent litigation and marketplace trends.
