In the first six months of 2025 – as Unified had flagged last quarter – discretionary denials increased sharply at the PTAB, the result of changes by USPTO Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart to the PTAB’s rules and procedures for evaluating inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) petitions. These changes include a bifurcated process for deciding whether to institute an IPR or PGR, emphasizing director discretion, and the expansion of the considerations for discretionary denial, including the reinstatement of the Fintiv factors and several new factors, including “settled expectations,” compelling public interests, and the extent to which the petition relies upon expert testimony.
In the federal district courts, the Eastern District of Texas remains the predominant venue for patent case filings, followed by the Western District of Texas and the District of Delaware. The E.D.Tex. continues to be the most popular venue for NPEs.
Additionally, requests for ex parte reexamination are currently on pace to match 2024’s level.
Key takeaways:
Based on the first six months of 2025, PTAB, ex parte reexamination, and district court filings are currently on pace to slightly exceed 2024’s numbers.
The W.D.Tex is increasing in popularity. Last year, it was the fourth most popular venue for patent filings and the second most popular for NPE filings; it is currently the second most popular venue for patent filings and NPE patent filings.
Combined, the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas accounted for 40% of all patent cases filed in the first six months of 2025 and 63.7% of all NPE cases filed during the same time period.
It remains to be seen how the increase in discretionary denials at the PTAB and the new bifurcated process emphasizing director discretion for determining institution on the merits will affect the number of IPR and PGR petitions filed in the rest of 2025.
In the Unified Patent Court, the number of infringement actions filed in the first six months of 2025 are projected to match 2024’s total.
Procedural Denials in PTAB Increase: The PTAB has issued 45% more procedural denials in the first six months of 2025 than it did in the entire year of 2024, and is well on pace to be one of the highest years on record. In June 2025 alone, the PTAB issued 75 procedural denials, an all-time high.
PTAB, Ex Parte and District Court Filings Increase: PTAB filings for the first six months of 2025 are at 53.9% of 2024’s total, while ex parte examination filings are at 52.4% of 2024’s total. District court filings are at 57.1% of 2024’s total. As of yet, we see more district court litigation, with roughly the same number of patent challenges.
Eastern District of Texas Remains No. 1: The E.D.Tex. continues to be the most popular venue for patent filings, with 28.2% of cases filed in the first six months of 2025, followed by the W.D.Tex. at 11.8%, the D.Del. at 11.2%, the N.D.Ill. at 8%, and the D.N.J. at 5.5%. It remains to be seen whether Judge Albright’s recent move to Austin will lead to more filings there.
The W.D.Tex. overall has increased in popularity in 2025. Last year, the five most popular venues were: the E.D.Tex. (28.5%), the N.D.Ill. (10.6%), the D.Del. (10.2%), the W.D.Tex. (9.6%), and the D.N.J. (6.7%).
NPEs Still Prefer the Eastern District of Texas: Almost 45% of all NPE cases filed in the first six months of 2025 were in the E.D.Tex., followed by 18.8% filed in the W.D.Tex. This is consistent with 2024, when 48.6% of all NPE cases were filed in the E.D.Tex., followed by the W.D.Tex. at 15%.
In the first six months of 2025, NPEs filed 89.5% of the patent cases filed in the E.D.Tex. and 89.7% of the patent cases filed in the W.D.Tex. More than 63% of NPE cases were filed in either the Eastern or Western District of Texas.
NPEs Dominate the Top 10 Plaintiffs: In the first six months of 2025, nine of the top 10 plaintiffs in district court were NPEs. Four of the top 10 plaintiffs (Torus Ventures, HyperQuery, SecureMatrix, and Authentixx) were Jeffrey M. Gross entities, with Torus Ventures the top plaintiff, filing 74 cases.
Post-Grant Proceedings: Petitions for inter partes review accounted for 73.7% of requests for post-grant proceedings in the first six months of 2025, while petitions for post-grant review made up 3.6% of all proceedings, and requests for ex parte reexaminations accounted for 22.8%. These current numbers are so far consistent with last year’s totals.
Top 10 Patent Owners in PTAB: In the first six months of 2025, more than half of the top 10 patent owners defending against a petition filed in the PTAB were NPEs.
Top 10 Defendants in District Court and Top 10 PTAB Defendants: There remains an overlap between the most active defendants in district court and the most active petitioners in the PTAB in the first six months of 2025, with Samsung, Amazon, and Apple in the top three spots for both.
Requests for Ex Parte Reexaminations: The number of requests for ex parte reexaminations in the first six months of 2025 is slightly more than half of the 2024 total.
The top requester of ex parte reexaminations in the first six months of 2025 was Unified Patents, accounting for more than 16% of all filings.
Filing Trends in District Court by Entity: NPEs filed 56.1% of the patent cases in district court in the first six months of 2025, while operating companies filed 40.3%.
Filing Trends in High Tech by Entity Type: In the first six months of 2025, NPEs filed 91% of the district court patent cases in the high tech space.
Filing Trends in PTAB by Entity Type over Time: NPEs were patent owners on 50.5% of the PTAB petitions in the first six months of 2025, while operating companies were patent owners on 48.6%.
Filing Trends in High Tech at the PTAB by Entity Type: Some 70.6% of the PTAB challenges in the high-tech industries for the first six months of 2025 were filed against NPEs.
District Court Patent Litigation by Industry Type over Time: For the first six months of 2025, 59.3% of the patent cases filed in district court involved the high-tech industry, while 13.1% were related to the medical industry.
PTAB Petitions by Industry Type over Time: In the first six months of 2025, 71.2% of the PTAB petitions filed in the first six months were in the high-tech industry space, while 14.5% were related to the medical industry.
Infringement and Revocation Actions and Counterclaims in Unified Patent Court over Time: The 79 infringement actions filed in the Unified Patent Court in the first six months of 2025 are about half of number of the infringement actions filed in 2024, or 160.
