Preliminary Injunction Denied for Hockey Skate Patent
The District Court of Minnesota denied a motion for preliminary injunction based on patent infringement in Torspo Hockey Int'l, Inc. v. Kor Hockey Ltd., 2007 WL 1752725 (D. Minn. 6/18/07).
Kor Hockey owns a patent for its hockey skate design. Torspo Hockey initiated the lawsuit by seeking a declaration that its competing skate design does not infringe Kor's patent. Kor then counterclaimed and moved for a preliminary injunction. The court denied the motion largely in part because Kor only identified an arch shape in the skate as a point of novelty. The court observed that Torspo will likely prove that the arch shape is not novel.
This case also featured a new ripple resulting from eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC, 126 S.Ct. 1837 (2006), which held that irreparable harm cannot be presumed when evaluating permanent injunctions (detailed coverage at PatentlyO). The court held that eBay applies with equal force to preliminary injunctions and determined that Kor failed to establish irreparable harm.
