The Federal Circuit yesterday affirmed a district court’s permanent injunction against manufacture and sale of a proximal humeral nail, which fixes breaks in the upper arm bone (the one connecting elbow to shoulder). The district court originally granted the permanent injunction under the easy-breezy standard that prevailed in patent infringement cases before the Supreme Court abolished the presumption in favor of injunctive relief in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange LLC, 547 U.S. 388 (2006).
The intervening eBay decision prompted the Federal Circuit to vacate and remand, after which the district court again issued a permanent injunction to halt infringing activity.
The Federal Circuit this time affirmed, holding that the evidence satisfied the four-part post-eBay test (irreparable harm, no adequate remedy for harm at law, balance of hardships, and public interest). Accumed LLC v. Stryker Corp., No. 08-1124 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 30, 2008).
Blawgletter found a favorite passage in the opinion: “[A] district court must be allowed to halt the exchange of reply memoranda at some point.” Id. at 13.
