Anti-suit injunctions for standard-essential patents: the emerging gap in international patent enforcement

Disputes over SEPs have taken, over the past two decades, an increasingly global character. In this context, situations of overlapping jurisdiction between national courts have more and more frequently emerged. One way to manage these jurisdictional overlaps in the adjudication of FRAND disputes is for courts to grant the remedy of the anti-suit injunction, barring the defendant from initiating or pursuing separate proceedings in overseas jurisdictions. Although anti-suit injunctions are, as the law currently stands in the USA and in Europe, the exception rather than the rule, their potentially negative impact on international comity, on the protection of fundamental rights under the rule of law, and on the ability of SEP-owners to enforce their lawful rights and be adequately compensated, is already evident. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.