Federal Circuit Holds There is No ‘Presumption of Irreparable Harm’ on Preliminary Injunction Motions: What Took So Long?

On August 4, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) chose to issue a precedential opinion formally holding that there is no “presumption of irreparable harm” in preliminary injunction proceedings in patent cases. The court acknowledged that this conclusion should have been apparent from the 2006 Supreme Court decision in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388, 393-94 (2006). The post Federal Circuit Holds There is No ‘Presumption of Irreparable Harm’ on Prelimina