No Preliminary Injunction for Patent Subject to Pending Reissue Application

The court denied plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the sale of defendant's oil cooler kits because there was a substantial question of enforceability of the patent-in-suit in light of a pending reissue application. "Defendant directed the Court to Plaintiff’s application for a reissue patent for the [patent] to rebut the presumption that the [patent-in-suit] is valid. . . . Plaintiff may be correct that the reissue patent application does not address whether the [patent] is invalid for obviousness or indefiniteness, but the purpose of a reissue patent application is to correct a patent 'wholly or partially inoperative or invalid.'. . . It is true that the original patent remains in effect until it is reissued; however, whether a patent remains in force is different from whether there is a substantial question concerning the enforceability the [patent]."

Neal Technologies Incorporated v. Innovative Performance Research LLC, 2-15-cv-00311 (AZD May 19, 2015, Order) (Bolton, J.)