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Costs of a Patent Lawsuit

Patent lawyer Peter Zura of the 271 Patent Blog has a great post regarding Paul Janicke’s study “Patent Litigation Remedies.” Peter’s post pays particular attention to the costs of patent lawsuits.

Over the last 20 years, the number of disposed cases more than doubled, from 1,013 in 1986 to 2,362 in 2004. The rates of adjudication dipped a bit during this time, going from 19% to 14% during the same period (settlements went from 81% to 86%).

Another interesting statistic from the study, the eBay decision bumped the rate of denials from 16% to 25%.

One statistic I wanted, but could not find, was the average cost of going to trial on a patent infringement lawsuit. Although Peter notes that it costs an average of $4.2 million to try a patent case where the damages are alleged to be in excess of $25 million, I would guess the overall average is substantially less.

Be sure to check out Peter’s post, which also has a link to Paul Janicke’s PowerPoint presentation on the topic.

Brett Trout

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