Exposure/Defense Cost Ratio Relatively High for Patent Litigation

Patent lawsuits have much more at stake in terms of liability exposure relative to the outside-counsel costs of defense than any other kind of lawsuit," writes Rees Morrison at Law Department Management. According to research by eLawForum,

“In employment and asbestos litigation, the ratio is approximately one-to-one,” which means that for every dollar the defendant corporation pays in settlement [liability costs] it pays one dollar to a law firm representing it [defense costs]. Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, Feb. 2008 at 28, continues. “In commercial and environmental litigation, the ratio is three-to-one. In personal injury and product liability, four-to-one, and in medical malpractice as much as eight-to-one. For intellectual property, the ratio can be ten-to-one or more.”