Docket Navigator - Patent Litigation Research

Terms and Definitions
U.S. District Court Patent Cases	U.S. District Court case counts include cases addressing the infringement, validity, or enforceability of a U.S. patent that are pending in a U.S. district court or the Court of Federal Claims. This encompasses cases flagged with Nature of Suit (“NOS”) 830 in the PACER system as well as other cases that are known to meet the above criteria. Transferred, consolidated, coordinated, or bifurcated actions may contribute to the number of cases counted.
ITC Patent Cases	ITC Patent Cases include investigations by the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §1337 and 19 C.F.R. Parts 201 and 210 involving allegations of infringement of a U.S. patent as reported in the ITC’s Electronic Document Information System (“EDIS”).
PTAB Patent Cases	PTAB Patent Cases include applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) for inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(a)(4), as reported in the PTAB’s Patent Review Processing System (“PRPS”). The term does not include proceedings conducted pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 6(a)(1)-(3) such as appeals of adverse decisions of examiners, appeals of reexaminations, or derivation proceedings.
Case Filings	Case Filings track the number of docket entries on a case. This includes docket entries for documents filed by parties, the tribunal, an interested agency, or a non-party. In some instances, case filings may not be associated with an underlying document.
Pleadings	Includes complaints, petitions and other initiating documents, amendments thereto and counterclaims asserting new patents.
Monetary Awards	Each judicial or administrative order to pay is counted as a separate monetary award. Includes interlocutory and final awards.
Injunctions	Each judicial or administrative directive to a party counts as a separate injunction. For example, if a court enters an injunction against three parties that would count as three injunctions.
Case Termination Status	Cases termination is determined by PACER and is not always completely accurate.
Case Filing Year	Case counts use the date the case record was created in the court or agency’s electronic docket system.
Case Parties	Each appearance of a party in a case counts as a separate occurrence. For example, if XYZ Corp. is a defendant in two different cases, that counts as two parties.
Significant Orders	Docket Navigator monitors every filing in (i) every patent infringement case in every U.S. district court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, (ii) ITC investigations involving claims of patent infringement, and (ii) certain applications filed with the PTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Within these proceedings, Docket Navigator pulls, reviews and summarizes every substantive or procedural order that could potentially impact the rights of the parties or the merits of any claim or defense. Orders addressing housekeeping matters typically are not included.
Construed Terms	Docket Navigator records claim terms and claim constructions that appear in any significant order. This includes orders following a claim construction or Markman hearing, but also encompasses orders on any other type of motion.
Motion to dismiss - sufficiency of pleading	Includes orders on motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim or failure to plead with particularity and motions for judgment on the pleadings.
Motion to dismiss - jurisdiction/venue/standing	Includes orders on motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, or standing and motions to dismiss for improper venue.
Motion to transfer venue	Includes orders on motions to (i) transfer venue for convenience or otherwise, and (ii) transfer venue to MDL proceeding.
Motion to stay	Includes orders on motions (i) to stay discovery, (ii) to stay pending reissue, reexamination, IPR/CBMR/PGR, interference, investigation by ITC, resolution of related action, settlement, dispositive motion, mandamus petition, MDL panel decision, bankruptcy, or arbitration.
Motion for summary judgment - in patentee's favor	Includes orders on motions for summary judgment of (i) infringement, (ii) no invalidity, (iii) no unenforceability, (iv) willful infringement, and (v) that a defense to liability based on the statute of limitations, equitable doctrines (laches, estoppel, etc.), or a prior agreement (express or implied license) lacks merit.
Motion for summary judgment - against patentee	Includes orders on motions seeking summary judgment of (i) noninfringement, (ii) invalidity, (ii) unenforceability, (iii) no willful infringement, (iv) no liability due to a statute of limitations, (v) no liability due to an equitable defense (includes laches and estoppel), and (v) no liability due to a prior agreement (includes express and implied licenses).
Motion in limine/Strike evidence	Includes orders on (i) motions in limine as to expert testimony, (ii) motions to strike evidence presented at trial, (iii) motions in limine as to evidence supporting a claim or defense, (iv) motions in limine as to fact witnesses, evidence, or exhibits, (v) motions in limine as to statements or arguments by counsel.
Granted	Includes orders (i) granting a motion, and (ii) recommending that a motion be granted.
Denied	Includes orders (i) denying a motion, (ii) denying a motion as moot, (iii) denying a motion without prejudice, (iv) striking a motion, (v) striking a motion without prejudice, (vi) vacating a motion, (vii) recommending that a motion be denied, and (viii) recommending that a motion be denied as moot.
Partial	Includes orders (i) denying or granting a motion in part, or (ii) recommending that a motion be denied and granted in part.
Other	Includes orders which were not included in Granted, Denied or Partial.
Rulings	A ruling is a decision by a court or other tribunal on a motion or other request for relief. Some orders may include multiple rulings.
Type of Pleading	This criteria restricts search results to only cases in which the specified pleading type was present. It does not restrict the results to the actual pleading documents.
Document Judge	This criteria restricts search results to only include results which occur on documents signed by the specified judge. To restrict results to cases in which the judge was present, use "Judge (case)" instead.
Posture of Motion	This criteria restricts results based on how the motion came before the court. It does not restrict results on either the type of motion or its outcome.
Case Judge	This criteria restricts search results to only include results in which the judge was present on the case. It does not restrict results to only those signed by the specifiied judge; for those results use "Judge (document)" instead.
Document Text	This criteria restricts results based on the actual content text of the court document. Documents are included in the results if all the specified words, their synonyms, or related words are present in the document. The words are not required to match exactly and are not required to be in order. Some documents require optical character recognition (OCR) to allow this form of searching; these documents may contain OCR errors which affect the results of the search.
Construed Terms	This criteria restricts results based on the claim term. Selecting "resembles" requires all specified words, related words, or synonyms to be present. Selecting "contains" requires the specified phrase to be present. Selecting "is exactly" requires the term (or definition) to be exactly the specified word or phrase.
Party	This criteria restricts results based on the parties involved in the case. Selecting "begins with" requires the party's name to begin with the specified word or phrase. Selecting "contains" requires the party's name to contain all the words or related words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the party's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored. Selecting "include affiliates of above" includes any party known to be a subsidiary or parent entity of any party already included.
Firm	This criteria restricts results based on the law firms involved in the case. Selecting "begins with" requires the firm's name to begin with the specified word or phrase. Selecting "contains" requires the firm's name to contain all the words or related words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the firm's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored.
Attorney	This criteria restricts results based on the attorneys involved in the case. Selecting "contains" requires the attorney's name to contain all the words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the party's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored.
Case Profile	Enter part of a case number and select it from the drop down list to go directly to a complete profile of any case.
Patent Profile	Enter part of a patent number and select it from the drop down list to go directly to a complete profile of any patent. Enter the number only, with no commas or letters.
Judge Profile	Enter part of a judge's name and select it from the drop down list to go directly to a complete profile of any judge.
Party Patent	This criteria restricts results based on the parties involved in proceedings in which the infringement, validity or enforceability of the patent is at issue. For example, choosing “XYZ Corp.” would limit search results to patents that were at issue in proceedings in which XYZ Corp. was a party. Selecting "begins with" requires the party's name to begin with the specified word or phrase. Selecting "contains" requires the party's name to contain all the words or related words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the party's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored. Selecting "include affiliates of above" includes entities previously identified as an affiliated entity in a corporate disclosure statement or in PACER.
Firm Patent	This criteria restricts results based on the law firms representing a party asserting a patent. Selecting "begins with" requires the firm's name to begin with the specified word or phrase. Selecting "contains" requires the firm's name to contain all the words or related words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the firm's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored.
Attorney Patent	This criteria restricts results based on the attorneys representing a party asserting a patent. Selecting "contains" requires the attorney's name to contain all the words in the specified phrase. Selecting "is exactly" requires the party's name to be exactly the specified word or phrase. In all cases minor punctuation and capitalization differences are ignored.
Docket Text	This criteria restricts results based on the actual text of the docket entry on the court's docket sheet. This is not based on optical character recognition (OCR) of court documents, but is an actual copy of the text typed in by the clerks on the docket sheets.
Posture of Motion in a Case	Using a posture of motion filter in this area of the search template will restrict results to Cases that contain an order with a specific “posture”. The “posture of motion” indicates how a motion was presented or “teed up” to the court. Examples of postures are “motion by a party” (usually a contested motion), “sua sponte”, “motion to reconsider”, “stipulated/agreed”, etc. This filter does not restrict results on either the type of motion or its outcome; use “Type of document” and “Result of motion” in this section of the search template, respectively, to add those restrictions.
Type of Document in a Case	This criteria restricts results based on the presence of a motion, decision, or request for relief within a case. Specifically this restricts results based on the type of motion, decision, or request for relief. It does not restrict results on either how the motion came before the court or its outcome; use Posture of Motion in a Case and Result of Motion in a Case, respectively, to add those restrictions.
Result of Motion in a Case	This criteria restricts results based on the presence of a motion, decision, or request for relief within a case. Specifically this restricts results based on the result of the motion, decision, or request for relief. It does not restrict results on either how the motion came before the court or the type of motion; use Posture of Motion in a Case and Type of Document in a Case, respectively, to add those restrictions.
Claim Construction	Includes orders issued as a result of a claim construction (Markman) hearing.
Stay ptab	Includes orders on motions to stay IPR/CBM proceedings.
Joinder	Includes orders on motions for joinder.
Oral Hearing	Includes oral hearing transcripts.
Appeal	Includes notices of appeal.
Amend Claims	Includes orders on motions to amend claims.
Sanction	Includes orders on motions to amend claims.
Rulings in Patentee's Favor	These milestones are based on major substantive court orders that favor patentees, including: (i) Motions for summary judgment of infringement and motions for summary judgment that a claim or defense of invalidity or enforceability is without merit. The chart does not reflect the court's ruling on the motion, only the timing of the court's ruling, and (ii) Determinations that a patent claim has been infringed, is not invalid, or not unenforceable.
Rulings Against Patentee	These milestones are based on major substantive court orders that do not favor patentees, including: (i) Motions for summary judgment of noninfringement and motions for summary judgment that a patent claim is invalid or unenforceable. The chart does not reflect the court's ruling on the motion, only the timing of the court's ruling; (ii) Determinations of noninfringement or that a patent claim is invalid or unenforceable.
Remedies	These milestones are based on Docket Navigator's review of court documents that award or recommend awarding monetary or injunctive relief. The chart does not reflect changes that may apply to the awards at a later date, e.g., reconsideration or reversal on appeal.
Jury Trial	These milestones are based on events that typically occur near the time of a trial, not the actual date(s), this includes Jury Instructions and Verdicts.
Bench Trial	These milestones are based on events that typically occur near the time of a trial, not the actual date(s) of trial, includes Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
Likely Settlement	This milestone is based on case termination data provided by PACER, EDIS, or PRPS for cases that contain no substantive rulings.
Mature Termination	This milestone is based on case termination data provided by PACER, EDIS, or PRPS for cases that contain at least one substantive ruling.
Case Filing Date	This is the filing date of the case, not the date on which the patent was added to the case.
Client Determinations	This tab shows patent determinations for patentees in cases in which the firm appeared as counsel for the patentee. In district court cases and ITC proceedings, patentees are usually designated plaintiffs and complainants, respectively. In PTAB proceedings, patentees are designated patent owners. A patent determination occurs when a court or administrative agency issues a decision that determines the infringement, validity, or enforceability of one or more claims of a patent. There may be more than one determination per patent and determinations may be overturned or reversed in later proceedings.
Opposition Determinations	This tab shows patent determinations for parties opposed to a patentee in cases in which the law firm appeared as counsel for the opposing party. In district court cases and ITC proceedings, parties opposing patentees are usually designated defendants or respondents, respectively. In PTAB proceedings, they are designated petitioners. A patent determination occurs when a court or administrative agency issues a decision that determines the infringement, validity, or enforceability of one or more claims of a patent. There may be more than one determination per patent and determinations may be overturned or reversed in later proceedings.
Opposition Patents	This tab shows patents in cases in which the firm appeared as counsel for a party opposing a patentee. In district court cases and ITC proceedings, parties opposing patentees are usually designated defendants or respondents, respectively. In PTAB proceedings, they are designated petitioners.
Client Patents	This tab shows patents in cases in which the firm appeared as counsel for a patentee. In district court cases and ITC proceedings, patentees are usually designated plaintiffs and complainants, respectively. In PTAB proceedings, patentees are designated patent owners.