Reports

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2020 First-Half Transport Zone Update: Litigation Doubles

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Overview

As patent litigation continues to rise, the Transport Zone is expected to see an 105% increase by the end of 2020. At the halfway point of the year (78 cases), litigation has already reached last year high (76 cases). This means that based on current numbers litigation is expected to hit  150+ cases reaching near all-time highs in this zone.

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Transport manufacturers continue to be the main targets of litigation. These manufacturers comprise 89% of all first-named defendants. Manufacturers are defined as companies such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Tesla. Dealerships are defined as a company that primarily sells for the manufacturer. These would include Kinsel Ford and Zimbrick Honda. Suppliers are companies such as Bosch Automotive, ABB, and even Uber that provide components or services.

NPEs continue to bring the majority of the lawsuits against Transport manufacturers and suppliers. NPEs are responsible for almost 77% of all transport litigation.

Looking at the year-by-year trends, NPE litigation has doubled in the first half of the year since last year in the Transport Zone.

The top-five plaintiffs in 2020, four are prolific NPEs, continually attack this zone. Those four NPEs account for 37% (29 cases out of 78) of litigation brought this year alone. The top-five plaintiffs are:

  1. JG Technologies (NPE): 11

  2. Display Technologies (NPE): 9

  3. Noco Company (Operating Company): 6

  4. Omnitek Partners (NPE): 5

  5. 2BCOM (NPE): 4

The top-five defendants in 2020, all manufacturers account for 25% of first-named defendants. The manufacturers are:

  1. Tesla: 5

  2. Ford: 5

  3. BMW: 4

  4. Hyundai: 3

  5. Jaguar Land Rover: 2

METHODOLOGY

Unified looked at all major Transport manufacturers and the top 10 Transport suppliers by revenue since 2012.

Total number of reported cases can vary. Unified made its best attempt to eliminate mistaken or duplicative filings.

Statistics include litigations initiated by NPEs or Declaratory Judgments (DJs) initiated by operating companies against NPEs.

Unified strives to accurately identify NPE through all available means, such as court filings, public documents, and product documentation.

LEGEND

Non Practicing Entity (NPE) = Company which derives the majority of its total revenue from Patent Licensing activities.

Operating Company or Op. Co. = Company which derives most of its total revenue from Product Sales or Services. Could be an SME or a large company.

NPE (Patent Assertion Entities) = Entity whose primary activity is licensing patents and acquired most of its patents from another entity

NPE (Small Company) = Entity whose original activity was providing products and services, but now is primarily focused on monetizing its own patent portfolio.

NPE (Individual) = Entity owned or controlled by an individual inventor who is primarily focused on monetizing inventions patents by that individual inventor.

Copyright © 2020, Unified Patents, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Q2 2020 Developer Updates

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New Portal Product and Features

Unified’s Portal PTAB docket now includes access to all the exhibits for the entire case. To view the exhibit simply click on the paper number. Users can browse through the exhibits and download them for their own use.

In addition to viewing all the exhibits, users are now able to download the entire PTAB docket for cases. 

In monitoring trends at the PTAB, Unified’s Portal now tracks specific procedural denials including 314(a) and 325(d).

Unified’s Portal also now tracks the petitioner entity type at the PTAB.

OPEN HEVC and AVC now includes improved analytics to understand the HEVC/H.265 & AVC/H.264 landscape.

Copyright © 2020, Unified Patents, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Unified’s Patent Quality Initiative (PQI) Releases Economic Report Showing the AIA led to over 13,000 jobs and grew the U.S. economy by $3 billion since 2014

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The Perryman Group found the PTAB has grown the U.S. economy, saved U.S. manufacturing jobs, and reduced litigation costs

Innovation is a key factor in U.S. economic growth and competitiveness—one balanced by transaction costs and freedom-to-operate. One critical element of the infrastructure facilitating product development and commercialization—the patent system—protects and allows profit from intellectual property and encourages its widespread adoption and implementation through well-calibrated patent scope.  That system includes the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA), which rechristened the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and created the administrative post-grant review procedures in wide use today. 

In a recent study, The Perryman Group (TPG), a world-renowned group of economists widely used and respected by industry and government, measured the effect of the AIA and PTAB on the U.S. economy. TPG found the AIA and PTAB substantially reduced patent litigation and transaction costs while generating billions in economic benefit.  The biggest gains were in manufacturing and trade, transportation, and utilities.  In short, the legislation saved U.S. jobs and has helped drive substantial economic gains over the past decade. 

TPG, using well-established economic analyses, first estimated the direct cost savings associated with reduced litigation, and then computed the total economic benefits of the associated efficiency gains as they have rippled through the economy.

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TPG estimates that over the 2014-19 period, cost savings associated with the PTAB led to an increase in U.S. business activity of $2.95 billion in gross product, $1.41 billion in personal income, and nearly 13,500 job-years of employment. With about 10,085 AIA/PTAB petitions filed over the 2014-19 period, the estimated economic benefit averaged over $292,900 per case in U.S. gross product and $139,985 in personal income.

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Economic performance in the United States over the long term is tied in large part to innovation and freedom-to-operate; this study demonstrates that the AIA and PTAB has not only supported innovation and reduced the patent tax on U.S. manufacturers, but has also generated substantial economic benefits across all sectors of the U.S. economy.  

The Perryman Report is part of Unified Patents’ Patent Quality Initiative (PQI), an effort to gather and provide objective data and research demonstrating how lowering patent quality will inevitably lead to even higher cost and risk for U.S. SMEs, inventors, and manufacturers, and can lead to less innovation, fewer U.S. jobs, and a drain on the U.S. economy.  Our PQI aims to provide data, studies, and testimonials to give policymakers and practitioners a clear picture of the state of the patent system.  More information about our PQI efforts can be found here.

For far greater detail, read the entire report HERE.

Copyright © 2020, Unified Patents, LLC. All rights reserved.