New study finds 90% of tech patent lawsuits in first half of 2015 were filed by patent trolls
Joe Mullin / Ars Technica :
Context & Ripple Effects
Joe Mullin's coverage has tracked the troll-litigation wave all year: from a $15.7M verdict against Samsung over Bluetooth claims to an East Texas judge later dismissing 168 cases from eDekka, the most prolific filer of 2014. This study puts a number on the pattern — nine in ten tech suits in the first half of 2015 came from non-practicing plaintiffs.
The follow-on coverage shows the pressure building in both directions: quarterly filings fell 33% year-over-year as East Texas cases dropped (Q3 2015 filings data), and Google began buying patents outright to keep them out of troll hands. The question this study frames is whether 2015's peak marks the high-water mark.
First-order effects
- Defendants like Samsung face a docket dominated by non-practicing entities rather than operating companies, raising the odds of settlement-driven payouts like the Bluetooth verdict earlier in the year.
- East Texas judges, already dismissing mass filings such as eDekka's 168 cases, get fresh statistical backing for treating serial troll dockets as abusive.
Second-order effects
- Google's Patent Purchase Promotion signals a buyer-side workaround: acquiring patents at a median $150K to remove them from the assertion market entirely.
- Courts' willingness to dismiss troll case batches feeds into falling filing volumes, pressuring contingency funders and law firms built around volume assertion.
Third-order effects
- If venue-shopping restrictions tighten further — as the Supreme Court would later do — the geographic concentration of troll suits in friendly jurisdictions erodes, reshaping where and how patent litigation gets filed.
- Sustained scrutiny pushes structural responses beyond litigation: defensive patent purchases and collective ownership models become a standing alternative for operating companies.
The trend: Patent troll litigation peaked in 2015 and then receded as courts curbed venue shopping and tech giants began buying patents defensively.