Quoting the accompanying motion of the otherwise completely sealed brief, Nokia asserts that if such a precedent of involving consumer demand as a factor before securing a permanent injunction against offending products, the ability of patent holders to file lawsuit to halt sales in the other party would be significantly crippled.
The “causal nexus” requirement as applied by the district court here, making the evidentiary standard for obtaining a permanent injunction so burdensome and strict that it may rarely, if ever, be met, will essentially lead to a compulsory-licensing system wherein patent holders are forced to license patented technology to competing firms, which could in turn harm incentives to innovate.
The CAFC has delegated Apple's appeal to a three-judge panel before the full court hears the case.
It is interesting to note that Nokia supports Apple in fighting to impose a sales ban on the Korean firm. Perhaps it is because, as they have mentioned, that "patent owners routinely issue threats of injunctions for patent infringement [to Nokia]". Any thoughts?
One interesting side-note is that Nokia was forced to limit it's claims against Google in Europe. What's confusing to me is that Nokia and Microsoft need each other, so why would Nokia support Apple?
ReplyDelete