In litigation IP stands for Incredibly Pricey (or insufficiently proved)!

“Companies spent 32 percent more on outside counsel for intellectual property litigation in 2003 than in the previous year, Chuck Fish, the chief patent counsel for Time Warner, told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property earlier this year.” Further, the NY Times, Sept. 24, 2006 at BU9 reports that Mr. Fish testified that “spending for all other to litigation rose a mere 1 percent during that time.”

A flabbergasting pair of numbers, both of which strike me as dubious. I assume the proclaimed increase for IP litigation is in aggregate payments, not hourly rates, and I presume it is a median figure. What I don’t know is whether a few Midas-touch suits swelled the 2003-04 spend. Otherwise, the jump is incredible. As for all other litigation, where is the proof? A miniscule single point increase doesn’t comport with all the caterwaulering about cost increases.