Definitions
Proceedings
PTAB = The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which hears the trial proceedings created by the America Invents Act (AIA): IPR, PGR, and (historically) CBM.
Inter Partes Review (IPR) = A trial proceeding before the PTAB, available since September 16, 2012, in which any party other than the patent owner may challenge issued patent claims as anticipated or obvious (35 U.S.C. §§ 102/103) based on patents and printed publications.
Post-Grant Review (PGR) = A trial proceeding before the PTAB in which a petitioner may challenge a recently issued patent (within nine months of grant) on any ground of invalidity.
Covered Business Method Review (CBM) = A transitional PTAB proceeding for covered business method patents; new CBM petitions ended in September 2020. CBM appears only in the historical portions of the charts.
Ex Parte Reexamination (Reexam) = A proceeding before the USPTO’s Central Reexamination Unit (CRU), available since 1981, in which any party (or the Director) may request reexamination of an issued patent based on patents and printed publications. If the request raises a Substantial New Question of patentability, reexamination is ordered; the requester does not participate after the request stage (hence ex parte).
SNQ = Substantial New Question of patentability — the threshold showing required for the USPTO to order an ex parte reexamination.
Metrics
Institution Rate = (the number of institutions during the stated window) ÷ (the total number of institutions and denials during that same window). Where a chart is labeled with a 12-month sliding window, both counts are taken over the trailing 12 months ending on the date shown.
Procedural (Discretionary) Denial = A denial of institution on non-merits grounds — for example, discretionary denial in view of parallel litigation or prior challenges — as distinct from a denial on the merits of the asserted grounds. Unless a chart states otherwise, “procedural denials” exclude merits denials.
Sotera Stipulation = A petitioner’s stipulation not to pursue in district court the invalidity grounds raised, or that reasonably could have been raised, in its IPR petition — historically offered to avoid discretionary denial based on parallel litigation.
Schedule A Defendant = A defendant identified only on a sealed “Schedule A” attached to the complaint — a device commonly used in suits against large numbers of online sellers, and frequent in design-patent filings. Where noted, top-defendant rankings are reported excluding Schedule A defendants.
Entities
Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) = A company that derives the majority of its total revenue from patent licensing or assertion activities rather than from making or selling products or services. Reported NPE totals include the three subtypes below.
NPE (Patent Assertion Entity) = An entity whose primary activity is licensing or asserting patents and that acquired most of its patents from another entity.
NPE (Small Company) = An entity whose original activity was providing products or services, but which is now primarily focused on monetizing its own patent portfolio.
NPE (Individual) = An entity owned or controlled by an individual inventor and primarily focused on monetizing that inventor’s patents.
NPE Aggregator = An entity that controls or owns two or more NPEs.
Operating Company (OpCo) = A company that derives most of its total revenue from product sales or services. May be an SME or a large company.
Other Entity = Universities, non-profits, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Third-Party Litigation Funding (TPLF) = Financing of a patent assertion by a third party — any party with a financial interest in the outcome other than the asserting entity itself. Cases are flagged as TPLF where evidence of such funding appears in court filings or public documents.
Sectors
High-Tech = Technologies relating to software, hardware, and networking.
Medical = Technologies relating to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health-related technologies.
Other = Technologies relating to mechanical devices, packaged goods, sporting equipment, and any other area outside high-tech and medical.
Venues
District courts are abbreviated in the conventional reporter style: a district prefix (N.D., S.D., E.D., W.D., C.D., or D. for districts covering a whole state) followed by the state. Venues appearing in this report include:
E.D. Tex. = Eastern District of Texas
W.D. Tex. = Western District of Texas
N.D. Tex. = Northern District of Texas
D. Del. = District of Delaware
N.D. Ill. = Northern District of Illinois
D.N.J. = District of New Jersey
N.D. Cal. = Northern District of California
C.D. Cal. = Central District of California
S.D.N.Y. = Southern District of New York
