The Truth Behind Patent Trolls

Hypothesis 1: Most Patent Assertion Entities are drivers of innovation, and incorrectly labeled as patent trolls.

Method 1: Find list of PAEs, sort by location, number of lawsuits filed, damages. Need to control for size of company and sector.

Top 10 PAEs in 2015, according to (Unified)

Patent Assertion Entities Filings, 2015

Company Name	Total Lawsuits Filed¹	Lawsuits Filed in Eastern District of Texas¹	Trademark Examining Attorneys
eDekka LLC	101	101	???
Data Carriers LLC	85	85	465
Shipping and Transit LLC	69	0²	429
Cryptopeak Solutions LLC	66	66	409
Hawk Technology Systems LLC	61	3	386
Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations LLC	60	59	386
Wetro Lan LLC	56	55	386
Loramax LLC	50	50	386
Genaville LLC	50	50	386
Oberalis LLC	50	50	386

¹ Data aggregated via LexMachina ² 79% of cases filed in Southern District of Florida

648 total cases, 519 in E.D. Tex. 80.09% of all patent litigation cases filed in 2015 were filed in E.D. Texas.

Questions: How do you determine where you can file your patent cases? What is the Judge Gilstrap's rate for number of patent litigation cases where the defendant wins?

Hypothesis 2: Patent litigation is increasing, but only because of the uncertain nature of technological developments and how patent claims apply to that. Patent litigation surges are consistent with major shifts in technological developments

• High tech is the only sector where a majority of cases were NPE related

Method: Find a reliable graph of developments within the technology sector and match it to the one below [1]:

Interesting facts that may deserve extra research

• Historically, the Eastern District of Texas is the top patent dispute venue. In 2015, 44% of all patent litigation was filed in E.D. Texas, most of which were assigned to Judge Rodney Gilstrap