Motion Drawing US Government’s Interest in Expanding Access to Injunctive Relief Has Been Withdrawn

In an Eastern District of Texas case filed by Radian Memory Systems LLC (RMS) against Samsung, the US government, via the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the USPTO, took the unusual step of filing a statement of interest (SOI) in a decision before the court: whether to grant RMS a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s alleged infringement. Injunctions have been difficult for NPE plaintiffs to secure, since the Supreme Court’s 2006 eBay v. MercExchange decision, given the need to show “irreparable harm” without competitive harm between the parties. The SOI asked District Judge Rodney Gilstrap to revisit that standard, arguing that there should be no categorical rule barring NPEs from injunctive relief because, in part, patents are hard to value. Last Friday, however, Judge Gilstrap granted RMS’s motion to withdraw its motion for a preliminary injunction.