Voda v. Cordis

Citation
Voda v. Cordis Corp., 2006 WL 2570614 (W.D. Okla. Sept. 5, 2006), aff’d, 536 F.3d 1311 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (full-text).

Federal Circuit Proceedings
The Federal Circuit affirmed the denial of an injunction when the district court rejected the licensor patentee’s argument that it could demonstrate irreparable harm to itself based on harm to its exclusive licensee. The exclusive licensee was not joined in the suit, and it appears that the patentee did not provide evidence of how harm to the licensee would directly harm it.

The Court also rejected Voda’s argument that in denying the injunction, the district court was adopting a categorical rule that denied injunctions to non-practicing entities, stating that non-practicing patent holders may be able to obtain an injunction provided they can prove irreparable injury to themselves and satisfy the four-factor test set forth in Ebay v. MercExchange.