Among the available remedies for intellectual property right infringement are injunctions or monetary relief. Especially in copyright and patent infringement cases, injunctions have been considered as the usual and de facto automatic remedy to prevent, deter or stop infringement. Injunctions may however also impose high costs on society.
In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the eBay decision, which make it more difficult to obtain injunctions to remedy infringements of patents, copyrights or trademarks. The Supreme Court held that judges should consider also alternatives, including forward looking royalty payments, for ongoing infringement, when this was a more appropriate outcome.
The eBay decision has drawn attention to the possibility that alternatives to injunctions, including non-voluntary court ordered authorizations to use patents, copyrights or trademarks, are possible.
This section of the KEI web page will explore state practices in this area, as well as international law relevant to the issuance of injunctions in intellectual property cases.
In addition to the links below, there are pages that discuss injunctions here: