The Federal Circuit today declined to review an interlocutory order holding a party in contempt for violation of a preliminary injunction. Entegris, Inc. v. Pall Corp., Nos. 04-1440, 05-1265, 05-1266 & 06-1374 (Fed. Cir. June 13, 2007).
The court also affirmed the district court’s dissolution of the preliminary injunction because Entegris failed to prove that Pall’s invalidity defense "lacks substantial merit".
Requiring a plaintiff to disprove a defense strikes Blawgletter as peculiar. But it may explain the rarity of preliminary injunctions in patent cases.
Barry Barnett
