Patent Insight 7: Top Patent Law Firms of 2024
In the rapidly evolving landscape of innovation, law firms play a critical role in safeguarding and advancing technological progress. They guide inventors and companies through the complex legal terrain of patent law, ensuring the effective protection and strategic leverage of their intellectual property. Understanding the activity, performance, and expertise of these firms is vital for all stakeholders in patent prosecution, including inventors, corporations, and research institutions. This knowledge helps in selecting the right partners, ultimately fostering an environment of growth and innovation.
Within this arena, Patexia's annual Patent Intelligence Report stands as a crucial resource, offering a thorough analysis of the patent landscape and the performance of stakeholders—including companies, law firms, and attorneys—competing in patent prosecution. The report is packed with statistics derived from patent activity before the USPTO over the past five years, from 2019 to 2023. It provides comprehensive evaluations and rankings, highlighting top entities and the key strategies that contribute to their success.
The Patent Intelligence Report 2024 reveals a decline in issued patents, averaging a 3.11% annual decrease from 2019 to 2023, attributed to changing filing trends, industry dynamics, and regulatory environments. However, an encouraging 12.92% increase in issued patents was observed in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, which may be linked to the USPTO's strategic measures to tackle patent pendency. Our previous analyses also spotlighted the contrasting performances among law firms, with some like Harrity & Harrity and Holland & Hart experiencing significant growth despite the overall downtrend. Key factors driving these trends include major lateral moves of top patent attorneys and the expansion or decline of key client companies in terms of patents issued. These insights highlight the complex interplay of legislative changes, strategic shifts, and economic conditions shaping the patent landscape, providing valuable context for stakeholders navigating this market.
Understanding patenting trends requires an analysis of both patent application filings and issued patents. Since the USPTO usually publishes applications about 18 months after they are filed, published applications provide a useful indicator of patent filing activity within a given timeframe. As seen above, there has been a noticeable decline in both issued patents and published applications from 2019 to 2023. Issued patents decreased from 395,456 in 2019 to 348,114 in 2023, with an average annual decrease of approximately 2.99%. Similarly, published applications fell from 433,675 to 365,822 over the same period, averaging an annual decrease of about 3.91%. However, when comparing the first half (H1) of 2024 to H1 of 2023, there is a significant increase in issued patents, rising from 165,531 in H1 2023 to 186,925 in H1 2024, marking a 12.92% increase, as we mentioned above. In contrast, published applications decreased from 173,895 in H1 2023 to 164,446 in H1 2024, indicating a 5.43% decrease.
Over our study period, covering January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2023, we identified a total of 3,227 law firms, representing 140,355 assignees from both the United States and abroad. Engaged in the process were a total of 28,843 active patent attorneys and agents. We assessed the law firms based on their performance and activity across three specific categories: high-tech, biotech, and overall. This evaluation process involved considering over 20 different indicators, each assigned specific weights, to facilitate a comprehensive assessment. Below is a table featuring select top-performing and highly active law firms in patent prosecution, as outlined in the report. A ranking within the top 250 out of a total of 3,277 firms signifies placement within the top seven percentile in the respective category.
| Law Firm | All Patents Including Design | Biotech Patents | High-tech Patents | Category | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slater Matsil |
9631 |
4 | 8180 | Overall Rank | 2 |
| Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks | 7366 | 1811 | 2708 | Activity Rank (Bio) | 2 |
| Kowert, Hood, Munyon, Rankin & Goetzel |
5377 |
18 | 4731 | Overall Rank (High-Tech) | 2 |
| Haynes and Boone, LLP | 8306 | 39 | 5277 | Overall Rank (High-Tech) | 3 |
| Maschoff Brennan Gilmore Israelsen & Mauriel LLP |
6057 |
364 | 3659 | Overall Rank (Bio) | 3 |
| Cantor Colburn | 20443 | 547 | 9041 | Activity Rank (Overall) | 4 |
| Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox |
8913 |
902 | 3369 | Overall Rank (High-Tech) | 5 |
| Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton | 17634 | 1396 | 9481 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 5 |
| Knobbe Martens |
18050 |
1412 | 7397 | Activity Rank (Bio) | 6 |
| Dentons | 8646 | 258 | 3345 | Overall Rank | 6 |
| FIG. 1 | 1305 | 1 | 1016 | Overall Rank (High-Tech) | 9 |
| Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. | 6423 | 1156 | 2115 | Activity Rank (Bio) | 10 |
| Esplin & Associates, PC |
1167 |
0 | 720 | Overall Rank | 10 |
| Baker & Hostetler LLP | 7633 | 732 | 3390 | Overall Rank (Bio) | 14 |
| Perkins Coie |
10317
|
417 | 6527 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 15 |
| Caldwell Intellectual Property Law | 902 | 15 | 360 | Overall Rank | 19 |
| Alston & Bird |
5908 |
361 | 3064 | Overall Rank | 30 |
| Greenberg Traurig LLP | 5573 | 385 | 2698 | Activity Rank (Bio) | 57 |
| Nicholson De Vos Webster & Elliott |
3255 |
0 | 3000 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 62 |
| Young Basile Hanlon & MacFarlane P.C. | 3911 | 46 | 2154 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 87 |
| Murphy Bilak & Homiller |
2378 |
0 | 2153 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 88 |
| Erise IP P.A. | 679 | 1 | 311 | Overall Rank (High-Tech) | 123 |
| Garlick & Markison |
1431 |
0 | 1203 | Activity Rank (High-Tech) | 159 |
| Wood Herron & Evans | 2340 | 63 | 261 | Activity Rank (Overall) | 237 |
The 2024 Patent Intelligence Report provides the full list of the top 2,000 most active and best-performing entities. Our analysis offers detailed rankings based on the activity and performance of these law firms, segmented into biotech, high-tech, and overall. For each entity, we've included valuable insights, such as their top clients or law firms, allowance rates, average number of office actions, extensions, pendency duration, and other pertinent metrics so you can make more informed and data-driven decisions.
Our Concierge program provides exclusive access to Patexia's comprehensive data including a copy of the latest Patent Intelligence Report, offering a range of unique benefits. Subscribers can explore an extensive database containing detailed profiles of hundreds of thousands of attorneys, law firms, and companies. Concierge members receive access to detailed rankings, scores, and essential information, such as the number of patents and applications, with annual breakdowns distinguishing between foreign and domestic origins. Additionally, the subscription includes various charts that highlight top clients, attorneys, examiners, tech centers, IPC codes, and a detailed list of patent applications per entity. This service delivers unparalleled insights, empowering strategic decision-making and providing a deep understanding of the complex patent prosecution market.
Ranking Methodology:
Our methodology for ranking attorneys, law firms, and companies across various categories and performance metrics is based on a rigorous and precise approach to ensure the most accurate market insights. The Patexia Data Science team has extracted over 20 signals from a range of data sources, combining them with different weights to construct comprehensive factors such as success, quality, efficiency, and activity. Discover our unique approach to analyzing IP data, making it easy for you to gain valuable insights into the constantly changing intellectual property landscape.