IP Litigation Falls In The US… But Someone Is Confused As To Why

from the the-*successful*-RIAA-strategy? dept

There’s a new report out that highlights that there were fewer IP related lawsuits in the US in 2008 than in 2007. The drop was about 10%: from 10,276 to 9,210. However, the reasoning given in the report for the decline is difficult to square with reality. It claims that: “The trend reflects the success of the recording industry in protecting its copyrights, leading the industry to bring fewer lawsuits in the past few years.” That isn’t even close to accurate. The RIAA has had very little success protecting its copyrights. The legal strategy has been a colossal failure, without a single legal win that held up, and file sharing has only grown over time. Hell, the RIAA has admitted failure in their lawsuit strategy, hence the decision to cut back on them (not end them, completely, as was originally claimed). So, it’s difficult to see how anyone could conclude that the program was a success, and resulted in fewer lawsuits. And, of course, the aggregate numbers may not be all that telling, either. In the past, patent system defenders have noted a drop in cases filed recently, but they fail to note that it was because more patent litigation these days is filed against a long list of companies, rather than just one or two. So, in actuality, more companies are getting sued for patent infringement, even if there are fewer overall lawsuits.

Filed Under: ,
Companies: riaa

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “IP Litigation Falls In The US… But Someone Is Confused As To Why”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
7 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Same with the RIAA

“So, in actuality, more companies are getting sued for patent infringement, even if there are fewer overall lawsuits.”

The RIAA is pursuing this strategy as well. See all the new cases for “X Record Label v. Does 1-n (usually on the order of 10-15).” This might have helped the number of lawsuits drop as well.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...