Patent litigation just had its busiest year in a decade

Plaintiffs filed 4,547 patent suits in 2025, up nearly 20% from 2024 and the highest total in ten years of tracked data. Filings have cooled somewhat in 2026, but the underlying economics have not. The median cost to take a patent case through trial now tops $3 million, putting serious enforcement out of reach for many individual inventors, startups, and mid-sized operating companies without outside capital.

Meanwhile, the industry funding those cases faces real scrutiny. Bloomberg Law estimates U.S. litigation finance at roughly $16.1 billion, and Congress is watching closely. The House Judiciary Committee has advanced H.R. 2675, which would require disclosure of, and in some cases bar, foreign and sovereign-wealth participation in funding U.S. lawsuits. Whatever happens with that bill, expect more transparency requirements industry-wide, not less.

For patent holders deciding whether to enforce, the calculus increasingly comes down to two questions. Is the IP strong enough to survive a validity challenge? And is there a funding partner who can carry a multi-year fight without dictating strategy?

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