Injunction Must Be Specific To Comply With Rule 65(D)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now vacated and remanded an injunction that did not comply with the specificity requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (F.R.C.P.) 65(d), relating to the scope of an injunction. The Court also vacated and remanded a portion of the judgment relating to the accused infringer’s affirmative defenses of invalidity and unenforceability. International Rectifier Corp. v. IXYS Corp., Case No. 04-1014 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 13, 2004). (Plager, J.)

International Rectifier is the assignee of a patent which relates to semiconductor device packages. On the same day its patent issued, International Rectifier filed a patent infringement suit against IXYS. Two weeks after the suit was filed IXYS modified the design of its accused products. International Rectifier subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment of infringement of the old products, which IXYS did not oppose (primarily because there was no economic incentive by IXYS to defend a