In-house counsel have long known that non-practicing entity (NPE) litigation is expensive, and we've always believed that the process is maddeningly wasteful and inefficient. Exactly how expensive and inefficient, however, has been difficult to pinpoint because there's been an utter lack of data and no accurate way to quantify the waste of NPE assertions in dollar terms.

Until now.

As I've discussed in previous columns, RPX has been building a growing database covering patent transactions and activity, including a broad cross-section of detailed litigation cost information. The data shows, across thousands of cases, how defense counsel, plaintiff counsel, NPEs and patent owners capture the costs of NPE litigation. Using this information, I'll give a simple illustration to show just where the money is going in a typical NPE litigation.