Patent lawsuits Drop however Tech companies still top goal

technology businesses like Google Inc. and Apple Inc. remain the biggest objectives of patent lawsuits at the same time as the overall litigation totals dropped final 12 months, consistent with a look at released through Unified Patents.

The number of patent proceedings filed fell 17 percent, to 5,002 from 6,030. of those, 63 percent concerned hardware, software and networking companies, in keeping with Unified Patents, a group of technology agencies that pool sources to fend off patent claims.

inside the high-tech zone, eighty three percentage of court cases have been filed through companies that depend upon licensing patents for maximum in their sales. That compares with 18 percent of suits in the healthcare area and 27 percent of cases in other industries.

“nearly all of them are groups whose commercial enterprise model is to do patent licensing” or assert patent rights in court, stated Shawn Ambwani, leader working officer of Los Gatos, California- based totally Unified Patents.

The number of lawsuits has become a focus as Congress considers regulation growing new policies for patent litigation most effective four years after passing the maximum sweeping overhaul of the U.S. patent gadget in five a long time.

Proponents like Google and Cisco structures Inc. point to the high quantity of fits to back their argument in want of rules to halt what they recollect abusive litigation practices, which includes one to make the losers in fits pay the winner’s prison prices.

Qualcomm, GE

organizations like Qualcomm Inc., which gets a good deal of its benefit from licensing patents for mobile-cellphone chips, and a collection of big businesses that include popular electric Co., warn that regulation may additionally do extra harm than true. The changes passed in 2011 need time to take effect before some thing else is executed, they say.

while era businesses dominated the litigation, fitness-associated lawsuits — which include ones over drugs, scientific devices and fitness-care offerings — accounted for sixteen percent of lawsuits and tended to contain massive corporations on each facets, in line with the observe.

The final 21 percent of fits included the whole thing else – – objects like patron merchandise, strength system and health gadgets. They generally concerned working agencies and small- or medium-sized organizations.

It’s difficult to evaluate latest yr figures with those before the 2011 regulation. Patent proprietors had been able to sue a number of corporations in a single case; and after the law changed they needed to document separate fits, so the variety of person proceedings jumped. court cases additionally tend to increase in time with an boom within the range of patents which can be issued.

Fourth-zone fits have been almost the same as in the 0.33 sector, indicating there can be some stabilization, Ambwani stated.