Preliminary Injunction Pre-lim-i-ner-y in-junc-tion A court order issued before a trial that prohibits a party from taking a specific action. It is intended to preserve the status quo until the final outcome of the case. The court issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the company from launching its new product, which allegedly infringed on a competitor's patent. There are many cases involving preliminary injunctions. One famous example is Apple v. Samsung (2011), where a preliminary injunction was issued prohibiting Samsung from selling certain smartphones. ← Back to BrowseNext Term →