Limiting enforcement remedies weakens IP protection
Mandel ’18 [Gregory N.; January; Dean & Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law, Temple University; Minnesota Law Review, “Institutional Fracture in Intellectual Property Law: The Supreme Court Versus Congress,” 102:803]
Similarly, in the context of patent enforcement, eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. reversed a century of common patent practice in holding that injunctions should not routinely issue based on a finding of patent infringement.38 Rather, federal courts are now directed to weigh the more general four-factor test to determine whether an injunction should apply.39 Prior to eBay, prevailing patentees obtained injunctions in nearly every case in which they proved infringement.40 Subsequent to eBay, approximately 27% of infringement verdicts have resulted in damages rewards without an injunction, thereby weakening patent protection.41