A storm has been brewing in the intellectual property arena involving a growing number of small to midsize technology inventors litigating against Big Tech over patent infringement.

"Now you have Google, Facebook and others having more than 50 cases a year in the United States being filed against them. They can't just bury their head in the sand. Where there is smoke, there is fire," said McKool Smith principal Blair Jacobs.

He believes there may be a changing trend in how these cases are being litigated and ultimately decided in court—usually after several-years of litigation and millions of dollars spent in legal fees. "Juries have been more sympathetic toward small to midsize tech inventors recently," Jacobs said, pointing out that juries appreciate the efforts of the smaller companies in coming up with remarkable inventions. Apple has been hit with several high-stakes patent infringement verdicts, including one favoring VirnetX Holding Corp. forcing the Silicon Valley giant to pay more than $500 million to the data security developer.