Patent battles are more prominent in technology companies than any other sectors of the business world. Two companies, Apple and Google, are supporting claims by others before the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2014. A ruling by the Supreme Court is expected by July 2014. Tired of infringement of their patents by others, they are seeking a ruling by the Supreme Court allowing them to recover legal cost for battling infringement claims. Apples infringement law suits grew from 27 cases in 2009 to 44 cases in 2012 and 42 cases in 2013. Similar increases have been experienced by AT&T, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Google and many others involving more than 100,000 businesses.
Patent battles are more prevalent in the technology field. Some companies indicate that they get more than dozens claims a year demanding royalties. Apple alone says that they get more than 200 demands a year and two attorneys are working full time answering these claims. Defending a legal suit against a company in courts cost more than $1.8 million, according to some estimates. Judgments vary and run into millions of dollars. Ability to recover legal cost will help many companies and it will slow the number of infringement patent claims.