Patexia Insight 206: Best ITC Law Firms for Section 337 Investigations in 2024
In late February this year, we published our fifth annual ITC Intelligence Report 2024, diving into a comprehensive analysis of investigations filed during the past six years, from January 2018 to December 2023. This extensive report offers a wealth of statistics and evaluates stakeholders from companies to law firms and attorneys. We rank them across three distinct categories: complainant, respondent, and overall performance, depending on the side represented. In Patexia 204, we examined some of the top lateral moves among leading ITC attorneys, analyzing the strategic shifts within law firms. This week, our focus shifts to covering the top law firms based on their activity and performance, as highlighted in our report.
Our comprehensive analysis reveals a total of 396 investigations initiated in the past six years, with a significant 87.37% focusing on patent infringement, collectively involving 973 unique patents. Yearly filing activity exhibited fluctuations, ranging from 50 to 79 investigations in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The number of investigations has been increasing from 2019 onwards, while the drop of 36.71% in filings in 2023 raises questions about potential factors influencing case initiation. Interestingly, as previously highlighted in Patexia 197, distinct court patent litigations and PTAB proceedings also experienced a decline during 2023. This parallel decrease across multiple venues suggests a potential broader trend in intellectual property disputes.
Moreover, the number of patents implicated in the investigations demonstrated variability over the same period, peaking at 248 patents in 2021 and reaching a low of 134 in 2023. This fluctuation in patent involvement might reflect strategic adjustments by companies to focus on fewer, more impactful patents or changes in the nature of disputes being brought before the ITC. In total, the 396 ITC investigations analyzed involved 973 unique patents, resulting in an average of 2.5 patents per investigation.
In total, 372 law firms served as representatives for either respondents or complainants in 396 ITC Section 337 investigations. Among these firms, 173 were identified as representing complainants, while 309 were identified as representing respondents. Notably, some firms were engaged on both sides for separate investigations. On average, law firms representing complainants participated in 2.8 investigations, while those representing respondents participated in 3.6 investigations. However, our analysis revealed that a select few firms demonstrated exceptional activity, managing a significant portion of all cases. We have developed and refined a ranking methodology over time, with valuable contributions from our IP community. This methodology is utilized to calculate activity and performance scores by considering the investigations filed, as well as their ultimate conclusions for terminated cases. For further details, please refer to the provided link.
Below, you will find a list of the top 25% firms, detailing their number of investigations, rank, and categorized ranking:
|
Law Firm |
All Investigations |
Category |
Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
|
41 |
Overall Performance Rank |
1 |
|
|
13 |
Complainant Performance Rank |
4 |
|
|
16 |
Complainant Activity Rank |
6 |
|
|
29 |
Overall Activity Rank |
8 |
|
|
15 |
Complainant Activity Rank |
11 |
|
|
11 |
Complainant Performance Rank |
11 |
|
|
12 |
Complainant Performance Rank |
12 |
|
|
11 |
Respondent Performance Rank |
16 |
|
|
19 |
Respondent Activity Rank |
23 |
|
|
15 |
Respondent Performance Rank |
26 |
|
|
16 |
Respondent Activity Rank |
28 |
|
|
11 |
Respondent Activity Rank |
29 |
|
|
3 |
Complainant Performance Rank |
29 |
|
|
14 |
Overall Performance Rank |
33 |
|
|
9 |
Complainant Performance Rank |
39 |
|
|
6 |
Complainant Activity Rank |
63 |
|
|
4 |
Respondent Performance Rank |
63 |
The complete ITC Intelligence Report 2024 is complemented by an Excel sheet containing rankings for all law firms, the top 1,000 most active attorneys, and companies. This comprehensive document details their rankings, activity scores, performance scores, and more, and provides a list of all Section 337 investigations filed during the period of study, along with corresponding metrics. Concierge subscribers may download this report for free. Additionally, they can access statistics related to Section 337 ITC litigation at any time by visiting ITC stakeholders’ profiles on the Patexia website. By reviewing the pages of law firms, companies, and attorneys, subscribers can analyze their ITC activity, examining badges, scores, rankings, lists of cases for each entity, filing trends, and specialized technologies.
Stay tuned as in the following weeks, we will also be spotlighting the top Section 337 ITC attorneys, recognized for their exceptional activity and performance as outlined in our report.