Have you ever wondered why courts seldom issue preliminary injunctions in patent cases? Blawgletter has. The Federal Circuit supplied a partial answer again today.
That court tossed a preliminary injunction barring manufacture of a "J-Hook", which attaches to an upright object and cradles lengths of cable in the curvy part of the "J". It agreed with the district court that the defendant didn’t raise a "substantial question" as to two of the three "invalidity" defenses it asserted — inequitable conduct and on-sale bar. But it saw enough substance in the third ground — obviousness under the new (tougher) test of KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727 (2007), which postdated the grant of the preliminary injunction. Erico Int’l Corp v. Vutec Corp., No. 07-1168 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 19, 2008).
