US Watchdog Weighs Role Of Non-Practising Entities In Patent Litigation

By Alessandro Marongiu for Intellectual Property Watch

In an attempt to clarify the role of non-practising entities in patent infringement lawsuits, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) yesterday released a new report highlighting major trends in patent litigation activities in the US.

The study found that the number of patent infringement lawsuits increased by a third from 2010 to 2011 due to the anticipation of changes introduced in the US legislation by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. It also highlighted that the number of defendants increased by roughly 129 percent between 2007 and 2011.

In the same period, most of the lawsuits were filed by companies, while non-practising entities (NPEs, also referred to as “patent trolls”) accounted for a fifth of all lawsuits. In addition, the report emphasised that 89 percent of  the increase in defendants involved software-related patents. According to the US agency, this finding “suggests that the focus on the identity of the litigant – rather than the type of patent – may be misplaced.”

Robert Berman, the CEO of CopyTele, a company that focuses on asserting patents, took the view that “the report exonerates NPEs with its findings.”

Finally, the GAO recommended that the US Patent and Trademark Office “consider examining trends in patent infringement litigation and consider linking this information to internal patent examination data to improve patent quality and examination.”