REVISION MILITARY, INC. (formerly known as Revision Eyewear, Inc.), AND REVISION MILITARY, LTD. (formerly known as Revision Eyewear, Ltd.), Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BALBOA MANUFACTURING COMPANY (doing business as Bobster Eyewear), Defendant-Appellee., 700 F.3d 524

Summary

Both appellant and appellee manufactured and sold protective eyewear. Appellant alleged that appellee copied and infringed its goggles that were covered by two design patents. The district court denied appellant’s motion for a preliminary injunction. On appeal, the court held that the district court erred in applying the Second Circuit’s heightened standard of proof of likelihood of success on the merits instead of the Federal Circuit’s standard. Substantive matters of patent infringement were unique to patent law, and thus the estimated likelihood of success in establishing infringement was governed by Federal Circuit law. Appellant had to meet the Federal Circuit's standard of whether success was more likely than not. In turn, the weight of the likelihood could be considered as an equitable factor, along with issues of the position of the parties with respect to the status quo, in the ultimate balance of equities. The court noted that the district court did not consider the prior art...