Disclosure Order Targeting Funders Stunts Delaware Patent Suits

Patent lawsuits filed in Delaware’s federal court dropped precipitously after a judge started requiring litigants to reveal any outside funding for their cases.

Filings fell 41% in the two-year period after Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly issued his standing order in April 2022, compared with the same time span leading up to the decree, a University of Utah study found. Patent suits were down 15% nationwide during the same period, according to the study.

“From the evidence we’ve amassed, there’s a pretty good argument here that what’s going on is litigation funders don’t like disclosure,” said Jonas Anderson, a ...