Trademark & copyright duration statistics, by court

Trademark & copyrighttrademark and copyright suits in federal court — take a median of 150 days from filing to resolution, based on 100,463 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 88 days and 1.6 years — full statistics, disposition mix, and district breakdown below.

Median
150d
Faster 25%
88d
Slower 25%
291d
Slowest 10%
1.6 yr

Filing to termination · 100,463 cases · median 150 days

How trademark or copyright lawsuit cases end

Of 70,060 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.

53%are dismissed· typically 135d
25%settle· typically 225d
18%reach judgment· typically 235d
4%transfer or stay (incl. MDL)· typically 170d
0%are remanded· typically 91d

Trademark & copyright duration by court

Median time to resolution in the districts with the most trademark or copyright lawsuit cases.

DistrictCasesMedianSlowest 10%
C.D. Cal.12,625175d1.4 yr
N.D. Ill.12,514103d307d
S.D.N.Y.9,695153d1.8 yr
S.D. Fla.5,694118d1.1 yr
N.D. Cal.4,504146d1.5 yr
E.D.N.Y.4,308194d1.7 yr
D.N.J.4,023148d1.5 yr
M.D. Fla.3,272126d1.3 yr
E.D. Pa.2,26995d350d
S.D. Tex.2,187160d1.7 yr
E.D. Va.2,052119d334d
N.D. Ga.1,966211d2.0 yr
W.D. Tex.1,867224d1.8 yr
D. Md.1,866142d1.1 yr
N.D. Tex.1,793146d1.4 yr

Have a specific trademark or copyright lawsuit?

These are averages across every trademark or copyright lawsuit. For a forecast tuned to your case — your court, your amount, your posture — get a free estimate, or the full report built from your complaint.

Other case types

Cite this data

Tertius, "Trademark & copyright: how long federal cases take, and how they end" (2026). Analysis of Federal Judicial Center Integrated Data Base records, 9.1M U.S. federal civil cases. https://usetertius.com/benchmarks/trademark-copyright

Free to cite with attribution — a link back to this page lets readers verify the numbers.

Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-6. Durations are filing to termination for U.S. federal civil cases. This is observed historical data, not a prediction of any specific case, and not legal advice. Tertius forecasts timing and disposition, never merits or damages.