A recent report, prepared by economists at the Perryman Group, confirms what has long been stated to be the case—inter partes review (IPR) has positively impacted the U.S. economy.  

In 2017, on the five-year anniversary of IPR, I calculated an estimate of the legal savings that IPR had generated from 2012 to 2017.  I estimated that—just in legal savings—IPR had generated more than $2.3 billion in legal savings, an average of more than $400 million per year.  The Perryman report confirms this estimate, finding that over a similar five-year period (2014-2019), IPR had generated $2.6 billion in legal savings.  But I noted in my original estimate that the benefits of IPR go beyond just avoiding legal fees—there’s economic growth generated by that money being spent on new R&D.  And the Perryman report produces an analysis of that money as well—and it’s even larger in scale.

In fact, Perryman estimates that nearly $3 billion in additional business within the U.S. was created by IPRs, alongside another $1.5 billion in additional personal income.  The plurality of this impact—nearly 50%—benefited companies that manufacture products, with smaller benefits accruing to the transportation, utilities, and financial sectors.

This economic evidence underlines the importance of the inter partes review process—and the need to make sure that the Patent Office doesn’t continue to change rules and practices in ways that cut off access to IPR.