Lex Machina released its annual Patent Litigation Report. This is a comprehensive report with data across the entire Patent module including patent litigation in federal district court and administrative hearings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). This report also includes Hatch-Waxman/ANDA trends as well as those involving High Volume Plaintiffs (plaintiffs who have filed more than ten cases in a single year).
The Patent Litigation Report analyzes filing trends, key decisions and timing metrics, as well as damages and other data. It shows top districts by case filings and percentage, top parties and law firms, and damages metrics including top jury awards. It also includes PTAB filings, trends in instituted and final written decisions, and top PTAB law firms.
Highlights include:
- As an effect of T.C. Heartland, the Eastern District of Texas is no longer the top venue for patent litigation. It has moved to second place behind the District of Delaware.
- Juul Labs, along with one of their claim defendants, The Electric Tobacconist, LLC, joined the most active parties list in 2018 and are members of the nicotine vaping industry.
- In 2018, PTAB saw the fewest institution decisions since 2014 and the fewest overall trials terminated since 2014
- The rate at which PTAB petitions are instituted has remained fairly constant over the past year (70.4% in 2018 to 68.7% in 2017), but there has been a subtle shift in the results of final written decisions that could be related to the SAS Institute decision.
- Celgene, newly acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, was the most active ANDA plaintiff in 2018, followed by Takeda.
To request a copy of the report, register here.