The European Unified Patent Court and Non-Practicing Entities: A Year of Early Evidence

Abstract

The debate about Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) has mainly been important to patent policymakers in the United States, where most NPE lawsuits occur. However, European policymakers have recently started paying attention to the NPE business model. This is partly due to the introduction of the European Unified Patent Court (UPC), which increases the litigation value of patents and could potentially stimulate NPE activity in Europe. In this article, I conduct an analysis of all infringement cases filed during the first year of operation of the UPC. I identify cases initiated by NPEs and collect details of the patents litigated and the companies involved. The results show that NPEs initiate approximately 15.5% of all cases, particularly in the ICT sector (30%), and with a notable increase to 24% in the second half of the year. NPEs also tend to target large, non-European companies. In terms of patent characteristics, NPEs tend to litigate patents that are older and less frequently cited than those pursued by other types of litigants.

Keywords: D23, 031, 034 Non-practicing entities, Patent, Patent litigation, European Unified Patent Court