94 Per Cent, 0.6 Per Cent: The Two Numbers Driving Europe’s SEP Injunction Debate

WISECODE Take

Many business leaders look at the statistic of a 94 percent injunction rate and assume European courts grant patent injunctions automatically. This dispute stems from an EU Commission follow-up report published in January 2026 by EY and Technopolis, which found that while 94 percent of patent cases resulted in injunctions, explicit proportionality assessments occurred in only 0.6 percent. Industry groups subsequently wrote to Executive Vice-President Séjourné in March 2026 demanding amendments to the IPRED Directive. While this highlights intense friction around Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), traditional manufacturers and pure software developers not tied to international interoperability standards remain largely unaffected. Facing potential statutory shifts in Europe, businesses should take two actionable steps. First, verify whether key products implement SEP-related technology to evaluate injunction exposure; second, refrain from using isolated regional statistics as a primary basis during FRAND licensing negotiations. High injunction rates often reflect cases where defendants failed to raise proportionality defenses, rather than judicial unwillingness to assess fairness.