4 ms·

The chart in the article, showing patent suits filed as a function of time, is a little misleading. It appears to hockey stick in 2011 (after a long upward tre

by josaka 12y ago

The chart in the article, showing patent suits filed as a function of time, is a little misleading. It appears to hockey stick in 2011 (after a long upward trend). It's worth noting that in 2011, the rules on how many defendants you can group in a suit changed, causing what used to be a single suit to spawn multiple separate suits, even though the number of companies affected didn't necessarily change. I think a better chart would lists defendants as a function of time.

Natsu 12y ago
I remember a similar upwards trend when you look at the graphs of money spent on patent lawsuits over time. So I believe it's a growing trend, even if the change to the joinder rules may explain part of the spike. I went looking for the chart, but all I can find are articles saying that Google & Apple spent more on patent lawsuits than R&D. I think that is illustrative of the problem, albeit in a different way.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
ximeng 12y ago
What is the best way to get data on who is litigating, who is being sued, and over what patent? For only 5000 lawsuits it would be relatively easy to understand the scope of the problem.
- WildUtah 12y ago
  It would be nice to just read in the court filings, which are a public record, and produce data extracts to explain the world. Unfortunately the PACER system -- officially a public agency -- charges you by the page for those public documents. Once you've got them, they're free for you to share, but sharing projects threaten the revenues of the system and the publishers (Westlaw and Lexis) that prosper from the lack of public access to public data. Those publishers and PACER have worked hard to block and shut down and even bring unrelated federal prosecutions against people who organize free systems. One of the reasons Aaron Swartz was a major target of federal prosecutors even though his nominal accusers didn't want charges brought is that he was active in promoting free access to federal court documents. [0] Companies like Lex Machina [1] work with the officially supported publishers to offer analysis of patent lawsuit filings and patent office documents (also officially but not really public) to answer questions like yours for very wealthy clients. [0] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/8/3968824/aaron-swartzs-battle-to-free-the-pacer-legal-document-database http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/8/3968824/aaron-swartzs-battl... [1] https://lexmachina.com/ https://lexmachina.com/
- josaka 12y ago
  For coarse data, the PricewaterhouseCoopers annual patent lit studies are pretty good: http://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/2013-patent-litigation-study.jhtml http://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/2013....

by josaka 12y ago

Natsu 12y ago

I remember a similar upwards trend when you look at the graphs of money spent on patent lawsuits over time. So I believe it's a growing trend, even if the change to the joinder rules may explain part of the spike. I went looking for the chart, but all I can find are articles saying that Google & Apple spent more on patent lawsuits than R&D. I think that is illustrative of the problem, albeit in a different way.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

ximeng 12y ago

What is the best way to get data on who is litigating, who is being sued, and over what patent? For only 5000 lawsuits it would be relatively easy to understand the scope of the problem.

WildUtah 12y ago
It would be nice to just read in the court filings, which are a public record, and produce data extracts to explain the world. Unfortunately the PACER system -- officially a public agency -- charges you by the page for those public documents. Once you've got them, they're free for you to share, but sharing projects threaten the revenues of the system and the publishers (Westlaw and Lexis) that prosper from the lack of public access to public data. Those publishers and PACER have worked hard to block and shut down and even bring unrelated federal prosecutions against people who organize free systems. One of the reasons Aaron Swartz was a major target of federal prosecutors even though his nominal accusers didn't want charges brought is that he was active in promoting free access to federal court documents. [0] Companies like Lex Machina [1] work with the officially supported publishers to offer analysis of patent lawsuit filings and patent office documents (also officially but not really public) to answer questions like yours for very wealthy clients. [0] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/8/3968824/aaron-swartzs-battle-to-free-the-pacer-legal-document-database http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/8/3968824/aaron-swartzs-battl... [1] https://lexmachina.com/ https://lexmachina.com/
josaka 12y ago
For coarse data, the PricewaterhouseCoopers annual patent lit studies are pretty good: http://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/2013-patent-litigation-study.jhtml http://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/2013....