The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that its own law, rather than regional circuit law, should govern whether the district court's injunction can be appealed against.

Chiron owns several US patents for methods relating to the detection of hepatitis C virus in blood. LabCorp supplies products for testing for hepatitis C virus. In late 2002, Chiron informed LabCorp that it would file a patent infringement complaint against them unless LabCorp signed a standstill agreement and began licensing negotiations. After LabCorp failed to sign a proposed extension to a second standstill agreement in April 2003, Chiron filed suit for infringement in the District of Northern California, seeking damages and an injunction against LabCorp's manufacture, use and sale of a number of products. However, only hours earlier LabCorp had filed a complaint against Chiron in Delaware, seeking a judgement that LabCorp were not infringing Chiron's patents and that the Chiron patents are invalid. During the course of litigation, the Delaware District Court granted LabCorp's motion to force Chiron to drop the second-filed action that was then co-pending in California.

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