NPE Litigation Rose Substantially in 2024 and Q4
January 15, 2025
NPE patent litigation increased significantly in 2024. This past year, NPEs added 1,889 defendants to patent litigation campaigns, an increase of 21.6% compared to 2023 (when such plaintiffs added 1,553 defendants).
The story was similar in the fourth quarter, when NPEs added 493 defendants, or 19% more than Q4 2023—falling 1% short of the trailing three-quarter Q4 average for 2021-2023, but exceeding Q3 2024 by 3%.
| Defendants Added | Change Compared to: | ||||
| Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | Q4 2021-2023 Average | Q3 2024 | ||
| NPE | 493 | 19% | -1% | 3% | |
| Operating Company | 352 | 38% | 38% | 25% | |
| Total | 845 | 26% | 13% | 11% | |
Overall, patent plaintiffs added 845 defendants in the fourth quarter of 2024, or 26% more than in Q4 2023 and 11% more than Q3 2024, also beating the trailing average by 13%. Plaintiffs added 3,063 defendants to campaigns in 2024 as a whole, or 19.7% more than the year before (at 2,558 defendants added).
See RPX’s fourth-quarter review for more on district court filings in Q4 and 2024, as well as other key trends that shaped patent litigation last year.