Federal patent-infringement lawsuits aimed at defendants whose identities are kept hidden have shot up 167% from 2022 to 2023 in the Southern District of Florida, raising due-process concerns for the businesses and individuals affected by such filings. 

The data was tallied in a recent report by Lex Machina, a legal analytics company, which found that “Schedule A” patent lawsuits have become increasingly common in the southern Florida district, which includes Miami. The changing patent-litigation landscape in the region came about even though the total number of patent cases declined by 21.5% during the 2022-2023 time period, according to Lex Machina.

In Schedule A cases, a plaintiff typically sues a large number of defendants suspected of patent infringement – such as e-commerce sellers from China – and the defendants are listed on a schedule attached to the legal complaint. But the schedule is typically kept under seal, with the plaintiff filing the complaint under pseudonyms such as “XYZ Corp.,” according to Lex Machina.