TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lanjouw,Jean O.
AU  - Lerner,Josh
TI  - Preliminary Injunctive Relief: Theory and Evidence from Patent Litigation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5689
PY  - 1996
Y2  - July 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5689
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5689.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jenny Lanjouw
Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC  20036
Tel: 202/797-6275
Fax: 202/797-2968
E-Mail: jlanjouw@brook.edu

Josh Lerner
Harvard Business School
Rock Center 214
Boston, MA 02163
Tel: 617/495-6065
Fax: 617/496-7357
E-Mail: jlerner@hbs.edu
AB  - This paper examines the suggestion that established plaintiffs request preliminary injunctions to engage in predation against less financially healthy firms.  We first present a model in which differences in litigation costs drive the use of preliminary injunctions in civil litigation.  The hypothesis is tested using a sample of 252 patent suits, which allows us to characterize the litigating parties while controlling for the nature of the dispute.  The evidence is consistent with the predation hypothesis.  We then explore various implications of the model and the impact of policy reforms.
ER  -