September Surprise? Patent Lawsuits Down 40%

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September Surprise? Patent Lawsuits Down 40%


According to data from Lex Machina, 548 new patent infringement lawsuits were filed in September 2013. This September? 329. That is a 40% decrease from last September to this. Moreover, as Timothy B. Lee of Vox highlights, there has been a steady decline in patent infringement filings over this summer from 416 in July to 399 in August to 329 in September.

What might account for this decline? While acknowledging the risks in drawing inferences from small data sets, both Mark Lemley of Lex Machina and Lee point to the Supreme Court’s opinion in Alice v. CLS Bank in June 2014, widely viewed as a game–changer for the judicial review of software and business method patents, more than a dozen of which have been ruled invalid after Alice. Whether these numbers are a blip or a trend will only become clear with more data, however, on whether holders of software or business method patents are reassessing their worth in litigation or just biding their time.

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