IP-related statistics from the recent past
A selection of key IP facts and figures, as reported by IAM and other sources
Between May and October 2016, Huawei and Samsung filed a total of 42 patent infringement complaints against each other in China (each asserted patent gets its own separate case there). Another separate case deals with “rate-setting and royalty payment” issues. In all Huawei asserted 20 patents against Samsung – 13 standard-essential patents (SEPs) and seven non-SEPs. Samsung responded by asserting 22 patents against Huawei – 14 SEPs and eight non-SEPs.
By this point, all 42 patents-in-suit on both sides have undergone invalidation procedures before China’s Patent Re-examination Board (PRB). Here are the results, as collated by Huawei and reported to a US federal district judge in a parallel proceeding.
Table 1. PRB decisions in Huawei v Samsung patent invalidations
Patent owner |
Type |
Total patents asserted |
Maintained (including partial maintenance) |
All claims invalidated |
Invalidation ratio |
Huawei |
SEP |
13 |
12 |
1 |
8% |
Non-SEP |
7 |
3 |
4 |
57% |
|
Samsung |
SEP |
14 |
9 |
5 |
36% |
Non-SEP |
8 |
0 |
8 |
100% |
Here are the remaining infringement cases and their first-instance venues in China (again, as reported by Huawei).
Table 2. Pending Huawei v Samsung litigation in China, as of February 2018
Venue |
Huawei SEP assertions |
Huawei non-SEP assertions |
Samsung SEP assertions |
Samsung non-SEP assertions |
Shenzhen |
7 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Beijing |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Xi’an |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Quanzhou |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1* |
Guangzhou |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Table 3. Stock performance of selected publicly traded IP-centric companies, January 2018 to March 2018
Source: Google Finance
In March, InterDigital announced that it would acquire Technicolor’s entire patent portfolio in a deal valued at up to $475 million. In an exclusive data analysis for IAM, ktMINE provided us with a snapshot of each company’s patent portfolio at the time of the deal.
InterDigital’s portfolio:
Granted US patents |
2,548 |
||
Granted worldwide patents |
12,078 |
||
| |||
H04W |
Wireless communications networks |
69.5% |
|
H04L |
Transmission of digital information (eg, telegraphic communication) |
48.8% |
|
H04B |
Transmission |
31.2% |
|
Y02D |
Climate change mitigation technologies in information communication technologies (ie, information and communication technologies aiming at the reduction of their own energy use) |
9.5% |
|
H04J |
Multiplex communication |
8.6% |
|
Technicolor’s portfolio (with Thomson Licensing as a subsidiary)
Granted US patents |
3,343 |
||
Granted worldwide patents |
16,571 |
||
| |||
H04N |
Pictorial communication (eg, television) |
44.3% |
|
H04L |
Transmission of digital information (eg, telegraphic communication) |
20.5% |
|
G11B |
Information storage based on relative movement between carrier and transducer |
14.1% |
|
G06F |
Electrical digital data processing |
10.1% |
|
H04W |
Wireless communications networks |
6.2% |
|
|
lnterDigital |
Technicolor |
||||||
Priority |
Grants |
Applications |
Continuations |
Percentage ‘global’* |
Grants |
Applications |
Continuations |
Percentage ‘global’ |
1997 |
13 |
|
|
54% |
84 |
|
|
3% |
1998 |
63 |
|
|
43% |
167 |
|
|
5% |
1999 |
94 |
|
4 |
37% |
215 |
|
1 |
7% |
2000 |
179 |
|
7 |
56% |
179 |
|
|
7% |
2001 |
191 |
|
14 |
65% |
238 |
1 |
3 |
9% |
2002 |
238 |
|
16 |
74% |
329 |
1 |
2 |
13% |
2003 |
168 |
1 |
16 |
71% |
257 |
|
3 |
11% |
2004 |
157 |
1 |
23 |
75% |
260 |
|
1 |
10% |
2005 |
132 |
13 |
61% |
240 |
4 |
3 |
10% |
|
2006 |
158 |
1 |
26 |
72% |
269 |
9 |
5 |
11% |
2007 |
203 |
2 |
40 |
87% |
219 |
9 |
2 |
9% |
2008 |
190 |
2 |
37 |
71% |
219 |
11 |
1 |
8% |
2009 |
139 |
4 |
46 |
78% |
209 |
16 |
8 |
8% |
2010 |
115 |
12 |
43 |
79% |
181 |
28 |
8 |
7% |
2011 |
105 |
29 |
43 |
56% |
126 |
54 |
|
6% |
2012 |
85 |
54 |
38 |
72% |
125 |
86 |
6 |
7% |
2013 |
11 |
76 |
5 |
62% |
69 |
163 |
3 |
6% |
2014 |
6 |
68 |
3 |
45% |
42 |
230 |
4 |
7% |
2015 |
4 |
19 |
1 |
33% |
10 |
130 |
|
2% |
2016 |
2 |
|
|
50% |
|
48 |
|
1% |
2017 |
1 |
1 |
|
0% |
|
|
|
0% |
|
2,254 |
270 |
375 |
|
3,438 |
790 |
50 |
|
* Global families are pursued in the US and at least three jurisdictions among DE/EP, JP, CN, SK, TW, MX, IN
Source: TechInsights