Blog Post: How Patent Litigation Trends for 2026 Are Changing IP Litigation

The Lex Machina 2026 Patent Litigation Report shows a split-screen story: By the end of 2025, district court filings had just reached their highest level in a decade, while activity before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) had begun a sharp descent. Plaintiffs filed 4,547 patent cases in federal district courts in 2025, a nearly 20% increase from 2024. Yet in the first half of 2026, claimants filed approximately 1,900 new district court lawsuits, putting the year on pace to finish comfortably below the 2025 peak.