Merial Ltd. v. Cipla Ltd.

NOTE: This order is n0nprecede11tial. United States Court of Appeals for the FederaI Circuit MERIAL LIMITED AND MERIAL SAS, Plaintiffs-Appellees, AND BASF AGRO B.V., Plc.',intiff, V. CIPLA LIMITED, __ Defendant-Appellant, AND VELCERA, INC. AND FIDOPI-IARM, INC., Defendants-Appellants, AND ARCHIPELAGO SUPPLIERS, ARROWTARGET ENTERPRISES LTD., GENERIC PETMEDS, INHOUSE DRUGSTORE, LISA PERKO, PETCARE PHARM.ACY, AND PETMEDS R US, Defendants. 2011-1471, -1472 Appeals from the United States District C0urt for the Midd1e DiSt1'ict of Ge0rgia in case n0. 07-CV-0125, Judge C1ay D. Land. BASF AGRO V. CIPLA LIMITED 2 ON MOTION Before LOURIE, MO0RE, and REYNA, Circuit Judges. LOURIE, Circuit Judge. 0 R D E R The appellants move to stay the contempt order and injunction entered by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, pending this court's dispo- sition of their appeal of the order. Merial Limited and Merial SAS (Merial) oppose. The appellants reply. The district court held that the appellants were in contempt of a previous injunction that prohibited, inter alia, the selling or importation of products that infringed two of Merial's patents. As part of its judgment, the district court ordered that the appellants must provide to Merial for destruction any inventory in the United States that contains fipronil and methoprene. The district court further enjoined the appellants from, inter alia, selling or importing veterinary products that contain fipronil and methoprene. The district court stayed its order and injunction until August 2O, 2011. To obtain a stay, pending appeal, a movant must es- tablish a strong likelihood of success on the merits, or, failing that, nonetheless demonstrate a substantial case on the merits provided that the harm factors militate in its favor. Hilton u. Brau,nskill, 481 U.S. 770, 778 (1987). In deciding whether to grant a stay, pending appeal, this court "assesses the movant’s chances of success on the merits and weighs the equities as they affect the parties and the public." E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. u. Phil- lips Petroleum Co., 835 F.2d 277, 278 (Fed. Cir. 1987). 3 BASF AGRO V. CIPLA LIMlTED See also Standard Havens Prods. v. Gencor Indus., 897 F.2d 511 (Fed. Cir. 1990). Based on the motions papers submitted, and without prejudicing the ultimate disposition of this appeal by a merits panel, we determine that the appellants have not met their burden to obtain a stay of the injunction or contempt order, except that Merial should not destroy the inventory provided to it by the appellants during the pendency of this appeal. Accordingly, IT ls OR:oERED THAT: The motion is granted to the limited extent that, pending this court's disposition of this appeal, Merial should not destroy any inventory required to be delivered by the appellants. The motion is in all other aspects denied. _ FoR THE CoURT ' 1 7 lsi Jan Horbaly Date J an Horbaly Clerk cc: Nagendra Setty, Esq. Jonathan G. Graves Esq. FlLED . ’ U.S. COURT 0 FOR Gregory A. Castan1as, Esq. THE FEDEli':A'l`.P(i:li:?l3iilS1T 33 AUG 1 7 2011 1AN+mnsm.v clean