NPEs By The Numbers

We read with interest the report of Article One Partners (HT: IPWatchdog), regarding the results of a survey pertaining to IP litigation issues across various sectors. While noteworthy on other grounds, we at IP Wise found most interesting the (sobering) statistics pertaining to non–practicing entity a/k/a troll litigation:

NPE litigation in the high technology industries represented 75% of all active litigation matters. More than half reported that NPE litigation increased over last year, with a median estimated increase of 22%.
NPE lawsuits were reported to settle more quickly, in an average of 6 months or less 62% of the time, as compared to only 6% for all matters. The majority of overall patent litigation matters take a year or more to settle, with 27% taking more than two years.
More than 80% of IP legal budgets are used for litigation defense activities.
The majority of overall patent litigation matters take a year or more to settle, with 27% taking more than two years.
It cost companies an average of $1.1 million to defend a single NPE lawsuit.
In other words, tangling with a troll is likely to be neither cheap nor painless, but the report suggests several ways to minimize both the cost and burden to your company.

Posted by Stacy Stitham