Over the last five years, Apple and HP have the “honor” of being sued by patent “trolls” more than any other technology companies. No one has been sued more by non-practicing entities over alleged patent infringements.
The tally of tech companies being “pursued” by non-practicing entities has been tracked by the group PatentFreedom. By their tally, Apple and Hewlett-Packard are tied with 131 lawsuits filed against them since 2007.
More recently, Apple has become the favorite target of trolls by a large margin. In the three-year span from 2009 to the end of 2011, Apple faced a dozen more lawsuits from “NPE” groups than PC maker HP.
“Patent Trolls” are referred to by PatentFreedom as “NPEs”. The group feels the term “patent troll” is “unhelpful,” as it is frequently used to refer to individuals or corporate entities who wish to enforce their patent rights.
Apple and HP have been the most-sued technology companies by NPEs since 2007, with Samsung coming in third with 105 lawsuits filed against it. Fourth place belongs to AT&T with 102 lawsuits, while Sony filled out the top five with 100 over the last five years.