According to the Stanford Law School's IP Litigation Clearinghouse (link), the number of patent infringement cases filed in the US was 2,605 in 2008, down by about 8% from 2007. Since 2005, the number of infringement cases was increasing year after year.
It seems that most of the decrease occurred in the last five months of 2008. During that period the filings decreased by 23% compared to the previous year.
I guess that it is fair to say that the economic downturn is responsible for that situation, at least partly. Since patent litigation in the US is a very costly avenue to take, the incentive to settle down may become more attractive when access to financing becomes more complicated.
The question now is whether this trend will be confirmed in the news months or not?
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