Injunctions: An Increasingly Flexible And Pragmatic Approach

In recent years, the UK courts have demonstrated that they are prepared to be flexible and pragmatic when considering remedies for patent infringement.  Whilst the default remains that a successful patentee will usually be entitled to a permanent injunction preventing further sales of an infringing product following a finding of infringement, this will not always be the case, as has been demonstrated by two recent decisions.

Edwards Life Sciences v Boston Scientific: Stay of injunction to allow re-training by clinicians

Having found one of Boston's patents valid and infringed by Edwards Sapien 3 product, the Court had to consider what was appropriate in terms of injunctive relief.  The parties accepted that the injunction should be stayed for a period (and then qualified for a further period), having regard to the impact an injunction would have on the health of patients with aortic stenosis.  It was also accepted that a number of clinicians who were currently