NPE Litigation Increased by Over 20% in 2019
February 5, 2020
RPX data show that patent litigation increased by around 4.6% in 2019 over 2018, counted by defendants added to litigation campaigns (with 3,555 defendants added in 2019 versus 3,398 in 2018). That increase was driven by NPEs, which added 22.7% more defendants in 2019 compared to the previous year (with 1,995 defendants added in 2019 versus 1,626 in 2018). NPE litigation accounted for 56% of the defendants added in 2019—increasing from 48% in 2018.
Additionally, NPEs were responsible for 55.7% of the defendants added in Q4 2019 (516 defendants)—the fourth straight quarter in which NPEs added more defendants than operating company plaintiffs.
See RPX’s fourth-quarter review for more information on this and other trends—including a decrease in yearly operating company litigation.
