The huge increase in software patent litigation over the last 15 years has produced reams of articles, cost fortunes and even snagged the US President's attention. But when something goes on for long enough, it also produces data -- lots and lots of data. So what have we learned from all the data? 

 

Non-practicing entities are growing and litigation costs increase each year, but that's hardly the whole story. Ms. Nicholson will examine data from academic and industrial sources to see what it all means for Linux, Android, GNU and the rest of the free and open source community. While some solutions are already working, more data brings more opportunities to impact the patent field in way that lets developers worry less about patent suits.