No Presumption Of Irreparable Harm

In deciding motions for preliminary injunction in a trade mark infringement case, courts have traditionally held that irreparable harm to a trade mark owner was presumed once a finding was made that that a defendant's use of the mark at issue is likely to cause confusion. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, however, in the case Herb Reed Enterprises, LLC v Florida Entertainment Management, Inc, recently broke away from past precedent and took a different approach to the standard for granting injunctive relief in a trade mark infringement matter.

Herb Reed Enterprises involved the use of the mark The Platters as the name of a musical group. The District Court had granted the plaintiff a preliminary injunction against the defendant's use of the mark, holding that the plaintiff had satisfied the requirements for obtaining injunctive relief, namely, that the plaintiff had established a likelihood of success on the merits and that it was likely to suffer