The explosion in the growth rate of patent applications in the late 1990s correlates with the growth rate of Venture Capital investments in web companies over the same period. This was the "dot com bubble" — the left side of the peak in the graph.
The right side of that peak is the "dot com bust". During this bust, "[m]any dot-coms ran out of capital and were acquired or liquidated".
The patents of acquired "dot bombs" were merged with the patent portfolios of their acquirers. But as for the liquidated companies, their patents flooded the market in the early 2000s.
This flood of web-related patents created a business opportunity.
