Table 4.7 U.S. District Courts. Copyright, Patent and Trademark Cases Filed
U.S. Cases Fiscal Year 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Grand Total 5,729 6,866 8,738 8,314 8,254 8,934 9,590 12,184 Total 37 27 41 32 32 41 32 25 Patent 24 17 24 24 20 26 20 14 Trademark 13 10 17 8 12 15 12 11 Total 5,692 6,839 8,697 8,282 8,222 8,893 9,558 12,159 Private Cases Copyright 2,075 2,417 2,050 2,446 2,084 2,448 3,007 5,796 Patent 1,212 1,706 2,460 2,496 2,680 2,788 3,055 2,706 Trademark 2,405 2,716 4,187 3,340 3,458 3,657 3,496 3,657
NOTE: These filings increased steadily from 1990 through 2000, due to a rapid growth in advanced technology and an increase in the number of companies and individuals who view their intellectual property as assets to be protected. Filings decreased between 2000 and 2002, primarily because of a significant decline in trademark filings. The significant growth in overall filings in 2004 resulted primarily from a 23 percent increase in copyright filings. Much of the increase occurred after a judge ruled that a case originally filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against more than 200 defendants must be refiled as individual cases against each defendant. Filings continued to increase in 2005 (up 27 percent overall), primarily due to a 93 percent increase in copyright filings that was likely due to music companies filing infringement cases against individuals for downloading copyrighted recordings. Source: Special C-3 Table