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December 5, 2011

Real World Effects of the Absence of a Presumption of Irreparable Harm

If you want to see the effect of recent cases abolishing the presumption of irreparable harm following automatically from a likelihood of success, consider the recent decision in the Apple v. Samsung case. Apple sued Samsung for infringements of three design patents and one method patent, each of which pertained to the IPad or IPhone.  Apple sought a preliminary injunction prohibiting sale of three Samsung phones and one tablet.

The court denied Apple a preliminary injunction with respect to all four Samsung products, despite finding that Apple had demonstrated a likelihood of success with respect to three of its patents, in whole or in part because Apple was unable to demonstrate irreparable harm.

If irreparable harm had been presumed, perhaps Apple would have gotten its injunction against one or more of the Samsung products.