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Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report in August of 2013 that was required by § 34 of theAmerica Invents Act 4 that suggests that increase in litigation by NPEs is not as dramatic asposited by certain other studies by academics 5 . Specifically, the GAO report found thatNPEs brought approximately 20% of the filed patent cases between 2007 and 2011 6 .In contrast, according to RPX Corporation, a publically traded company that offers patentrisk management and acquisition services, in 2013 NPEs initiated 63% of all new patentlitigation (measured by total defendants) 7 . In addition, in 2012, according to a study byPatent Freedom, an entity that tracks NPE lawsuits, NPEs sued more “low tech” industrieslike retailers and financial institutions than technology companies 8 . Many of the patentsasserted by NPEs against retailers and financial institutions involve software or businessmethod and process patents.Recent articles from two Boston University Professors estimate that direct costs bydefendants in patent suits by NPEs were $29 billion in 2011 9 . The same authors concludedthat NPE lawsuits caused $500 billion of lost wealth to the targeted businesses from 1990-2010.4 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, Pub L. 112-29 Enacted September 16, 2011.5 U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, Intellectual Prop.: Assessing Factors That Affect Patent InfringementLitigation Could Help Improve Patent Quality (Aug. 22, 2013) http://www.gao.gov/products/gao-13-465.6 Id.7 RPX Corp., 2013 NPE Litigation Report, 4 (2014), http://www.rpxcorp.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/01/RPX-2013-NPE-Litigation-Report.pdf.,last visited 1/7/158 Patent Freedom, Exposure by Industry (July 14, 2014), https://www.patentfreedom.com/aboutnpes/industry/.9 Michael Meurer et al., The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes, (Boston University School of Law, Law andEconomics Research Paper No. 12-34, June 28, 2012) https:/www.bu.edu/law/faculty10951932.2 4