Patent Assertion Plaintiff Patterns
Who sues whom in patent litigation? Data from 6,500+ cases reveals NPE vs operating company patterns, industry shifts, and market-cap correlations.
~3,300
NPE vs OpCo litigations
~3,000
OpCo vs OpCo litigations
<2%
Individual/university/govt plaintiffs
6,500+
Total litigations analyzed
Who Is Suing Whom?
Analysis of 6,500+ patent litigations over the last five years reveals that NPE and operating company assertions are nearly equal in volume—but they target very different industries.
Plaintiff Breakdown
NPE vs OpCo assertions are roughly balanced. Approximately 3,300 cases involved NPEs suing operating companies, while about 3,000 were operating company vs operating company disputes. Individuals, universities, and government plaintiffs combined accounted for less than 2% of all assertions.
Fun fact: the only government asserter in the dataset was Canada—and they asserted plant patents.
Industry Targeting by Plaintiff Type
Operating Company Assertions When operating companies sue each other, the most targeted industries are consumer electronics (15%), software (13%), pharma (10%), biotech (9%), and semiconductors (8%).
NPE Assertions NPEs concentrate on software (20%), semiconductors (17%), and consumer goods (14%).
Non-Asserted Patent Distribution Non-asserted patents skew heavily toward semiconductors (21%), highlighting that high filing volume does not automatically translate to high assertion rates.
Where Assertions Are Rising and Falling
Industry shifts over the past five years reveal where assertion activity is trending, based on sectors with 50 or more litigations.
NPE Trends NPE assertions are growing fastest in healthcare (+13% CAGR) and financial services (+9% CAGR). They are declining fastest in telecommunications (−24% CAGR) and semiconductors (−15% CAGR).
Operating Company Trends OpCo assertions are growing fastest in automotive (+25% CAGR) and financial services (+25% CAGR). They are declining fastest in pharma (−27% CAGR) and biotech (−16% CAGR).
Market Cap and Litigation Risk
Bigger companies get sued more. The larger the market cap, the more patent litigation a company faces—confirming that deep pockets attract assertions.
Takeaway for Defensive Strategy
If you have a multi-industry patent portfolio, make sure your filings align with where litigation and potential licensing leverage will actually happen—not just where your R&D is concentrated.
Explore This Data with ArcPrime
Plaintiff Intelligence
Identify assertion patterns by plaintiff type—NPE, operating company, university, and individual inventor.
Industry Assertion Heatmap
See which industries face the most patent assertions and how targeting patterns shift over time.
Trend Analysis
Track rising and declining assertion trends by industry to anticipate where litigation risk is heading.
Market Cap Risk Scoring
Understand how company size correlates with litigation exposure and plan defensive strategies accordingly.