In many patent suits, patent holders seek injunctive relief to prevent an accused infringer from continuingto practice the patented invention. Whether an injunction can be granted depends on various considerations a judge may weigh under her equitable powers.
Injunctive relief, also known as an “injunction,” is a legal remedy that may be sought from the courts to require a defendant to stop doing something (or requiring them to do something).
A temporary restraining order (TRO) is a legal document issued by a judge before trial that forces or prevents an action for a specified time frame. During court cases that involve trademark infringement or the use of a trade secret, a TRO can halt patent, copyright, or trademark infringement in the short term.
What Is an Example of Injunctive Relief? Theft of Clients: If a former employee poaches a company's clients, the innocent party may try to stop the former client from causing further damage. Breach of Contract: Injunctive relief is an effective way to stop an offending party from continuing to breach a contract.
Rule 11's approach is particularly interesting in patent cases, because patentees and their counsel have a prefiling duty to investigate the case by construing at least one claim of every asserted patent and comparing that claim to the accused device.
An alleged infringer can assert a number of common defenses in response to a patent infringement claim, including: ∎ A defense of non-infringement (see Non-infringement). ∎ Invalidity defenses based on prior art (see Prior Art Invalidity).
One remedy is injunctive relief, which restrains the defendant from future copying of the work. A preliminary injunction can be sought early in the case to restrain copying during the lawsuit.