The sweeping reforms to U.S. patent law imposed by the Smith-Leahy America Invents Act of a year ago have created a significant increase in patent litigation despite reformers intentions to cut down the number of questionable patents issued by the USPTO and to reign in the activities of “patent trolls.” According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the number of patent infringement actions filed in 2011 reached 4,015—the highest number ever recorded, and a 22 percent jump over 2010 levels. Corporate Counsel has just released its 2012 Patent Litigation Survey, a study which ranks law firms according to how many federal district court patent suits they handled in 2011. The results of the Corporate Counsel survey reveals a “steep rise across the board” in the number of new patent cases prosecuted or defended by the law firms. For a summary of survey results, click here: http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1353953206255&thepage=1
You can view the Corporate Counsel survey by clicking here: http://www.law.com/corporatecounsel/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202578216506