Intellectual property verdicts more than doubled last year compared with 2013 thanks to several nine-figure verdicts, but none crossed the billion-dollar threshold last reached in 2012.

Fifteen intellectual property verdicts totaled $1.87 billion last year, according to The National Law Journal affiliate VerdictSearch's Top 100 Verdicts of 2014 survey. That represented a 131 percent spike from the nine verdicts worth a collective $808 billion in 2013.

VerdictSearch bases its findings on court records, consultations with practitioners and a review of news reports. They key was what a jury awarded; the survey did not account for subsequent judicial reductions, offset or appeals. [See Methodology.]