Judicial Mandates
A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Injunctions: Court Orders Shaping Legal Outcomes.
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What is an Injunction?
Definition and Nature
An injunction is a fundamental equitable remedy, manifesting as a specific court order that compels a party to either perform or refrain from performing certain actions.a[1][2] Originating from the English courts of equity, its roots trace back to Roman law's concept of the "interdict."
Coercive Power
When a court issues an injunction, it is employing its full coercive authority to direct a party's conduct.[4] Failure to comply with such an order can lead to severe consequences, including criminal or civil penalties, monetary sanctions, and even imprisonment for contempt of court.
Legal vs. Equitable
While primarily an equitable remedy, injunctions can also function as legal remedies. This occurs when statutes or common-law courts adopt equitable principles, extending injunctive relief into the legal domain.a
Rationale and Principles
When Money Isn't Enough
Injunctions are typically granted when monetary damages alone cannot adequately address the harm caused by a violation of rights. This principle is often summarized as the requirement that there must be "no adequate remedy at law."[5]
Fairness and Good Faith
Courts consider principles of fairness and good faith when deciding whether to grant an injunction and defining its scope. This includes applying equitable defenses such as laches (unreasonable delay) and the doctrine of unclean hands (misconduct by the plaintiff).[6]
Scope and Modification
Injunctions can prohibit future unlawful acts (e.g., trespass, patent infringement) or mandate the repair of past wrongs. They can be mandatory (requiring action) or prohibitory (forbidding action), often containing elements of both.[7] Importantly, injunctions can be modified or dissolved if circumstances change, allowing courts to manage ongoing behavior.[8][9]
Forms of Injunctions
Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs)
A TRO is a special injunction issued before trial, potentially without prior notice or a hearing to the opposing party. It is granted for a limited duration until a hearing can be held where the restrained party can contest the order. TROs are frequently used in cases involving domestic violence, stalking, or harassment.[17]
Preliminary Injunctions
Issued before a full trial, preliminary injunctions are granted less frequently than TROs. They typically require the party seeking the injunction to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits, potential for severe harm without the injunction, and that the injunction serves the public interest.[18]
Permanent Injunctions
Granted after a trial, permanent injunctions require a court to consider four factors: (1) the plaintiff has suffered irreparable injury; (2) legal remedies are inadequate; (3) equity warrants the remedy considering the balance of hardships; and (4) the public interest is not disserved.[19][20]
Global Applications
Australia
In New South Wales, Apprehended Violence Orders (AVOs) function similarly to injunctions, prohibiting actions like assault, harassment, stalking, and intimidation, often including conditions against contact or online pursuit.[11][12]
Turkey
Turkish law utilizes interim injunctions as extraordinary remedies, requiring courts to balance competing claims of injury and consider potential hardship to the defendant.[13][13][14]
United Kingdom
The UK employs interim injunctions for relief pending trial. Notably, "super-injunctions" and "hyper-injunctions" have emerged, imposing strict secrecy orders that limit reporting or even discussion of the injunction's existence, though their use and definition have been subject to debate and scrutiny.[27][28][29]
European Union
The EU recognizes "dynamic injunctions," which can adapt to new website addresses or IP changes without requiring a new judicial procedure, and "live blocking injunctions," used to halt illegal streaming during live events.[39]
Antitrust Context
Patent Disputes and Competition
In antitrust law, particularly concerning standard-essential patents (SEPs), the pursuit of injunctions by patent holders is a subject of significant debate. While some argue that seeking injunctions for SEPs, which must be licensed on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) terms, can lead to anti-competitive practices and harm consumers, others contend that patent law adequately addresses these issues without the need for antitrust intervention.[23][24][25][26][26]
References
Source Citations
- a An injunction is sometimes also available as a legal remedy, known as a "legal injunction" or "injunction at law." In that case, injunctive relief would have been extended to law either by statute or through common-law courts borrowing from equity.
- ^ Sharpe, Robert J. (2017). Injunctions and Specific Performance. Canada: Thomson Reuters Canada Limited. ISBN 9780779884001.
- ^ Perell, Paul (1989). "The Interlocutory Injunction and Irreparable Harm". Canadian Bar Review. 68: 538.
- ^ Titi, Catharine (2021). "The Function of Equity in International Law". OUP. p. 22.
- ^ Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418 Archived 23 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 428 (2009) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
- ^ Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U.S. 305, 311 (1982).
- ^ Bray, Samuel (2014). "A Little Bit of Laches Goes a Long Way: Notes on Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc". Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc. 67: 1. SSRN 2376080.
- ^ Dobbs, Dan (1993). Law of Remedies: Damages—Equity—Restitution (2nd ed.). St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co. p. 224. ISBN 0-314-00913-2.
- ^ International Union, United Mine Workers of America v. Bagwell, 512 U.S. 821 (1994).
- ^ Jost, Timothy Stoltzfus (1986). "From Swift to Stotts and Beyond: Modification of Injunctions in the Federal Courts". Texas Law Review. 64: 1101.
- ^ a b Bray, Samuel (2014). "The Myth of the Mild Declaratory Judgment". Duke Law Journal. 63: 1091. SSRN 2330050.
- ^ "New South Wales – Apprehended Violence Orders". National Council of Single Mothers and Their Children. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Are you applying for an AVO?". Legal Aid New South Wales. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ a b Zeldin, Wendy (30 December 2015). "Constitutional Court Rulings on "Reasonable Suspicion" in Criminal Procedure Code". Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ Baysal, Pelin (3 January 2019). "Litigation and enforcement in Turkey: overview". Westlaw. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ Wolfe, Jan (17 March 2025). "Trump Administration Defends Deportation Flights After Court Order". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 17 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ Jansen, Bart (18 March 2025). "Government lawyers argue oral orders not enforceable". USA Today. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ "Understanding Injunctions". Insights. American Bar Association. Winter 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7 (2008)". Google Scholar. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006)". Google Scholar. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ "A.W. Chesterton Co., Inc. v. Chesterton, 128 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 1997)". Google Scholar. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- ^ Laycock, Douglas (2012). "The Neglected Defense of Undue Hardship (and the Doctrinal Train Wreck in Boomer v. Atlantic Cement)". Journal of Tort Law. 4 (3): 1. doi:10.1515/1932-9148.1123. S2CID 155015267. SSRN 2040896.
- ^ Press Release, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Statement of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on Its Decision to Close Its Investigation of Samsung's Use of Its Standards-Essential Patents (7 Feb. 2014) [hereinafter DOJ Closes Its Samsung Investigation], available at https://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2014/303547.pdf; Decision and Order § IV.D, Robert Bosch GmbH, No. C-4377 (F.T.C. 23 Apr. 2013). Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ J. Gregory Sidak, Injunctive Relief and the FRAND Commitment in the United States at 16, forthcoming in 1 Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law: Antitrust and Patents (Jorge L. Contreras ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2017), https://www.criterioneconomics.com/injunctive-relief-and-the-frand-commitment-in-the-united-states.html.
- ^ Joseph Farrell, John Hayes, Carl Shapiro & Theresa Sullivan, Standard Setting, Patents, and Hold-Up, 74 ANTITRUST L.J. 603 (2007); Jorge L. Contreras, Fixing FRAND: A Pseudo-Pool Approach to Standards-Based Patent Licensing, 79 ANTITRUST L.J. 47 (2013).
- ^ J. Gregory Sidak, The Meaning of FRAND, Part II: Injunctions, 11 J. COMP L. & ECON 201 (2015), https://www.criterioneconomics.com/meaning-of-frand-injunctions-for-standard-essential-patents.html.
- ^ England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Willis Ltd & Anor v Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc & Ors, 2015, EWCA Civ 450 (22 April 2015)
- ^ Press Gazette, 14 October 2009, MPs slam 'super injunction' which gagged Guardian Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Robinson, James (13 October 2009). "How super-injunctions are used to gag investigative reporting". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 17 Mar 2011". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 17 March 2011.
- ^ "Trafigura drops bid to gag Guardian over MP's question", The Guardian, 13 October 2009.
- ^ Leigh, David (29 March 2011). "Superinjunction scores legal first for nameless financier in libel action". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
- ^ Greenslade, Roy (20 April 2011). "Law is badly in need of reform as celebrities hide secrets". Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 24 April 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- ^ Swinford, Steven (21 March 2011). "'Hyper-injunction' stops you talking to MP". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ Tim Dowling (21 March 2011). "Got secrets you want to keep? Get a hyper-injunction". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Number crunching". Private Eye. 1288. Pressdram Ltd: 5. 2011.
- ^ "Media concession made in injunction report". BBC News. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
- ^ "A Philosophical Conundrum". Private Eye. 1393. Pressdram Ltd: 9. 2015.
- ^ a b "EUR-Lex - 52017DC0708 - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
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