Sidley Secures Denial of a Preliminary Injunction in Appeal on Behalf of Gogo Business Aviation

Sidley won a significant patent litigation victory for Gogo Business Aviation on January 31, securing on appeal the denial of a preliminary injunction pursued by competitor SmartSky Networks. In 2022, SmartSky filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware alleging that Gogo infringed four SmartSky patents, and sought to block Gogo from launching its forthcoming 5G air-to-ground communications network for business aviation customers. Sidley defeated the preliminary injunction motion, with the district court finding that SmartSky had failed to show a likelihood of success on any of its infringement claims, and that SmartSky had failed to demonstrate irreparable harm. SmartSky appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which issued a unanimous opinion affirming the district court’s ruling. Nathaniel Love presented the oral argument for Gogo, and Stephanie Koh led the Sidley team, which included Leif Peterson and Michael Springer-Ingram.