Section 11 Preliminary Injunctions

• Library: Intellectual Prop 2004

Preliminary injunctions are available in all intellectual property cases, but they seem to arise most frequently in trademark cases. The standards for issuing a preliminary injunction in the federal courts in the Eighth Circuit are:

• the probability that the movant will succeed on the merits
• the threat of irreparable harm to the movant
• the balance between this harm and the injury that granting the injunction will inflict on other interested parties; and
• the public interest

See United Indus. Corp. v. Clorox Co., 140 F.3d 1175, 1178–79
(8^th Cir. 1998); Dataphase Sys., Inc. v. C.I. Sys., Inc., 640 F.2d 109, 114 (8^th Cir. 1981); Steak N Shake Co. v. Burger King Corp., 323 F. Supp. 2d 983, 990 (E.D. Mo. 2004). No single factor is dispositive, and all of them must be balanced. Int’l Ass’n of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Schimmel, 128 F.3d 689, 692 (8^th Cir. 1997). The movant has the burden of showing it is entitled to a preliminary injunction. Steak N Shake, 323 F. Supp. 2d at 996.

Injunctive relief is not to be issued reluctantly. Clorox Co., 140 F.3d at 1179. On the other hand, the burden of demonstrating that a preliminary injunction is warranted under the Lanham Act is heavy when granting the preliminary injunction that will give the movant substantially the relief it would obtain after a trial on the merits. Sanbom Mfg. Co. v. Campbell Hausfeld/Scott Fetzer Co., 997 F.2d 484, 486 (8^th Cir. 1993).

To show a likelihood of success on the merits, a...