A blog about patent, copyright and trademark law in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York

Court Denies Preliminary Injunction, Finding No Likelihood of Success on the Merits

In a June 29, 2015 ruling, Judge Robert W. Sweet denied the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the defendant’s use of the plaintiff’s trademarks in purchased keyword internet searches. Among other things, Judge Sweet found that the plaintiff had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits because where a plaintiff “is seeking an injunction that will alter, rather than maintain, the status quo, it is required to show ‘a clear or substantial likelihood of success,’ . . . a higher showing than the likelihood of success on the merits required under the traditional preliminary injunction standard.” The Court found that while the plaintiff’s “case is persuasive, and there is a real possibility that it will prevail on its merits, at this stage it has not made a showing sufficient to meet this bar.”
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