IP.knowledge

Sharp Decline in US Patent Litigation so far in 2014 – IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Patent Law. Looking at the year to year figures, there’s been a significant drop in lawsuits filed. Comparing the first two months of 2013 to  2014, there has been a drop of 25% for the same period. Some speculate the threat of new patent legislation making its way through Congress is having an impact. Former PTO Director, now Executive Director of AIPLA, Q. Todd Dickenson, testified to Congress in December 2013 that the post-grant proceedings introduced in the US with enactment of the AIA may be working to reduce the number of lower quality patents through lower-cost administrative procedures for challenging issued patents. The new data from Lex Machina supports the conclusion reached by the AIPLA that it is simply too early to know what the overall impact of the AIA will be.