According to a recent study, the number of patent litigation
cases in Europe initiated by so called non practicing entities
(NPEs) has significantly risen over the past years.
The study "NPE Litigation in the European Union: Facts and
Figures" (by Darts-IP) outlines that the average annual
growth rate of actions related to NPEs between 2007 and 2017 was as
high as 19%. More specifically, the number of
Patent Litigation cases brought by NPEs, sometimes in a
friendlier way referred to as patent assertion entities, and
sometimes in a less friendly way referred to as "trolls",
was 56 back in the year 2007 and reached 173 in the year 2017.
Furthermore, according to the study, patents being asserted or
owned by NPEs in Europe are more often successfully invalidated
than those patents being asserted or owned by non NPEs. The study
also shows that Germany is oftentimes the battleground for such
litigation. Here, a defendant in a patent infringement case cannot
bring a
