Injunctions for UK Businesses: When to Apply and What to Expect

Reviewed by the Legal Foundations editorial team. Last updated: March 2026.

An injunction is one of the most powerful tools available in English law. It’s a court order that compels someone to stop doing something — or in some cases, to do something — immediately. For businesses, injunctions are most commonly used in emergencies: a competitor stealing your trade secrets, a former employee breaching a non-compete, or a fraudster moving assets before you can get a judgment.

But injunctions are also complex, expensive, and not always the right tool. This guide explains what they are, when they’re appropriate, how to apply for one, and what to expect from the process.

What Is an Injunction?

An injunction is a court order requiring a person or organisation to either:

  • Stop doing something (a prohibitory injunction) — the most common type; or
  • Do something (a mandatory injunction) — less common and harder to obtain

Injunctions can be temporary (interim) or permanent (final). In business disputes, interim injunctions are the tool most often used — they hold the situation while the underlying dispute is resolved.

The critical feature of injunctions is speed. Unlike ordinary litigation, which can take months or years, an interim injunction can be obtained in days — or even hours in a genuine emergency.

Types of Injunctions Businesses Use

Interim (Temporary) Injunctions

An interim injunction is a temporary order granted while litigation is ongoing. The court isn’t deciding who’s right — it’s preserving the status quo until a full hearing can take place.

Interim injunctions are used in a wide range of business disputes:

  • Stopping a competitor using your brand or confidential information
  • Preventing a former employee from joining a competitor in breach of their contract
  • Halting publication of defamatory material
  • Preventing completion of a transaction that would cause irreversible harm

Freezing Injunctions (Mareva Orders)

A freezing injunction (formerly called a Mareva injunction) prevents a defendant from moving or disposing of their assets — typically money in bank accounts or property — up to the value of your claim.

Freezing injunctions are used when you have reason to believe the defendant is dissipating assets to make themselves judgment-proof before you can get to court. They can be obtained without notice to the defendant in urgent cases.

This is one of the most powerful remedies in English law, and courts take the decision to grant one seriously. You’ll need to show a good arguable case and a real risk of asset dissipation.

Injunctions for UK Businesses

Search Orders (Anton Piller Orders)

A search order allows you (or your solicitors) to enter premises to search for and seize evidence, without warning. They’re used when there’s a real risk that evidence would be destroyed if the defendant were given notice of proceedings.

Search orders are rare, extremely serious and will only be granted where the need is compelling. They must be executed properly — usually with an independent solicitor present — or the order can be challenged.

Non-Compete and Restrictive Covenant Injunctions

When a former employee or business partner breaches a non-compete clause or other restrictive covenant, an injunction is often the only effective remedy — damages after the fact don’t undo the competitive harm.

Courts will only enforce restrictive covenants that are reasonable in scope and duration. A covenant that’s too broad (too long, too wide geographically, too sweeping in what it prohibits) may not be enforced at all. If you’re trying to enforce one, you’ll need the clause itself to be well-drafted.

See also: Employment Law Guide for UK Startups and SMEs

IP Injunctions

Injunctions are commonly used to stop infringement of intellectual property rights — trademarks, copyright, patents and design rights. IP injunctions can be interim (stopping infringement while the case is decided) or final (permanently stopping it after a judgment).

Before reaching the courts, many IP disputes begin with a cease and desist letter. Use our free cease and desist letter template →

For a full overview of IP protection: Protecting Your Business’s Intellectual Property in the UK

When Can a Court Grant an Injunction? The American Cyanamid Test

The leading case on interim injunctions is American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975]. Courts apply a three-stage test:

1. Is there a serious question to be tried? — Not “will you win?”, just “is there a real, arguable case?” This is a low threshold.

2. Would damages be an adequate remedy? — If money would adequately compensate you for the harm, you don’t need an injunction. Courts grant injunctions when damages aren’t enough — usually because the harm is continuing, irreversible, or hard to quantify.

3. Balance of convenience — Even if the first two stages are met, the court weighs up the harm to each side. If granting the injunction would cause more harm to the defendant than refusing it would cause to you, the court may decline.

In practice, the most important factors are usually (a) how strong your case looks and (b) whether the harm is genuinely irreversible.

The Undertaking in Damages

Almost always, to get an interim injunction you must give an undertaking in damages — a promise to the court that if it later turns out the injunction was wrongly granted, you’ll compensate the defendant for any losses they suffered as a result. This is a serious commitment. If your case fails, you could end up paying significant damages to the person you were trying to stop.

How to Apply for an Injunction

Standard Applications (With Notice)

For non-urgent applications, you apply to the court giving the defendant notice. The process:

1. Issue the underlying claim (or do so simultaneously with the injunction application)

2. File an application notice and evidence (usually a witness statement setting out the facts)

3. Serve the defendant with the application and evidence

4. Attend a hearing — the judge hears both sides and decides

The hearing is usually brief (30–60 minutes for straightforward cases). The judge can grant the injunction, refuse it, or adjourn for a full hearing.

Without Notice (Ex Parte) Applications

In a genuine emergency — a fraudster moving assets right now, confidential information about to be disclosed — you can apply without notice to the defendant. The court can grant an injunction the same day, sometimes within hours.

However:

  • You must make full and frank disclosure of all relevant facts, including anything that might count against you. Failing to do so can result in the injunction being set aside.
  • The order will include a return date — typically 7–14 days later — where the defendant can come to court and challenge it.
  • The risks are higher if the injunction turns out to have been improperly obtained.

Without-notice applications should always be handled by a solicitor.

What Injunctions Cost

Injunctions are expensive. You should expect:

  • Solicitor fees: £5,000–£20,000+ depending on complexity, even for a relatively straightforward interim injunction. Emergency applications with overnight preparation cost more.
  • Court fees: Application fees are relatively modest, but if the matter goes to a full hearing, costs escalate quickly.
  • Counsel fees: For High Court applications, you’ll usually need a barrister as well as a solicitor.
  • Your undertaking in damages: If you lose or discontinue, you may have to pay the defendant’s losses and legal costs.

Despite the cost, injunctions are often worth pursuing — because the alternative (watching your confidential information being used by a competitor, or your brand being infringed at scale) can be far more expensive.

Defending Against an Injunction

If an injunction has been served on your business, act immediately. You typically have days — sometimes only until the return date — to respond.

Steps to take:

1. Get legal advice urgently — do not try to handle this without a solicitor

2. Do not breach the order — even if you think it’s wrong. Breach of an injunction is contempt of court and can result in fines, sequestration of assets, or imprisonment.

3. Prepare evidence — gather everything that supports your position

4. Attend the return date hearing — this is your opportunity to challenge the injunction

At the return date, the court will consider whether the injunction should continue until trial. You can argue that the claimant didn’t satisfy the American Cyanamid test, or that their undertaking in damages is inadequate.

Injunctions in Specific Business Scenarios

Departing employees and directors

Injunctions against former employees or directors are one of the most common uses in business litigation. Typical situations:

  • A senior employee leaves to join a direct competitor in breach of a non-compete clause
  • A departing sales director begins contacting your clients in breach of a non-solicitation covenant
  • A founding director who has fallen out with the company tries to take clients, data, or key staff with them

Speed is critical. The value of a non-compete is almost entirely in the first weeks after the employee leaves — once they’ve embedded themselves with a competitor and taken your clients, an injunction is of limited practical use even if you obtain one. Act immediately on discovering the breach.

Key questions the court will ask:

1. Is the restrictive covenant valid and reasonable?

2. Has there been a breach (or is a breach imminent)?

3. Can money adequately compensate you? (Usually not — client relationships and confidential information aren’t easily quantifiable.)

Protecting confidential information and trade secrets

If a former employee or business partner is using or threatening to use your confidential information — pricing data, client lists, software code, business plans — an injunction can be sought to prevent disclosure or use.

Unlike registered IP (where you need to prove ownership), trade secret injunctions require you to show:

  • The information was genuinely confidential
  • The defendant is using it or threatening to use it
  • You took reasonable steps to keep it secret

This reinforces the importance of proper confidentiality provisions in employment contracts, NDAs, and supplier agreements. See our NDA template and IP assignment agreement.

Stopping a business from doing something harmful

Beyond employee situations, injunctions are used in many business contexts:

  • Stopping a supplier or distributor from breaching an exclusivity agreement
  • Preventing a landlord from unlawfully terminating a commercial lease
  • Stopping a competitor from using a similar brand, domain name, or product design
  • Preventing a shareholder from taking steps that breach a shareholders agreement

In each case the same basic analysis applies: is the harm serious enough, is damages an inadequate remedy, and does the balance of convenience favour granting the order?

Freezing injunctions in fraud cases

If you’ve discovered that someone has defrauded your business — or is in the process of doing so — a freezing injunction can preserve their assets while you pursue a claim. This is particularly powerful in commercial fraud cases where the defendant might move money offshore or to connected parties.

Freezing injunctions require you to show:

  • A good arguable case on the underlying fraud claim
  • A real risk the defendant will dissipate assets if not restrained
  • That the balance of convenience favours granting the order

They are commonly combined with disclosure orders requiring the defendant to reveal the location of their assets, and sometimes with search orders to preserve evidence.

After the Injunction: What Happens Next

An interim injunction is not the end of the story — it’s a holding measure while the underlying dispute is resolved.

After an interim injunction is granted, the parties typically have several options:

1. Settlement: Many cases settle once an injunction is in place. The defendant realises you’re serious, the disruption of the injunction causes them to reconsider, and negotiations begin.

2. Continuation to trial: If the case doesn’t settle, it proceeds to a full trial where the court decides the underlying dispute. At trial, the court may grant a permanent injunction (or refuse one and assess damages instead).

3. Undertakings: Instead of fighting the injunction, the defendant may offer undertakings — formal promises to the court to do or not do something. Undertakings have the same effect as an injunction order (breach is contempt of court) and can be a pragmatic way to resolve the immediate dispute.

4. Discharge application: The defendant may apply to discharge (cancel) the injunction at the return date or at any time, arguing that the test for granting it wasn’t met or that circumstances have changed.

When You Need a Solicitor

Injunctions are one area of law where you should not attempt to go it alone. The rules are technical, the timescales are short, and mistakes — particularly in without-notice applications — can be costly.

You need a solicitor if:

  • You’re considering applying for any type of injunction
  • An injunction has been served on you
  • You suspect a former employee or competitor is using your confidential information
  • You believe someone is dissipating assets to avoid paying a judgment
  • You need to enforce a non-compete clause against a departing employee or director

Legal Foundations connects businesses with solicitors experienced in injunction applications, including emergency out-of-hours work.

Get connected with a specialist solicitor →

Related Guides

FAQ

How quickly can I get an injunction?

In a genuine emergency, a without-notice injunction can be granted the same day — sometimes within hours. For applications with notice to the other side, expect a hearing within days to a few weeks depending on urgency and court availability.

Can I get an injunction without going to court?

No. Injunctions are court orders — they can only be granted by a judge. You can, however, write to the other side first to demand they stop (a cease and desist letter) — this sometimes resolves the situation without needing court.

Do I have to give an undertaking in damages?

Almost always yes, for interim injunctions. This means if the injunction turns out to have been wrongly granted, you’ll compensate the defendant for their losses. Courts can require that the undertaking be backed by a payment into court or a bond.

What happens if someone breaches an injunction?

Breach of a court injunction is contempt of court. The consequences are serious: fines, sequestration of assets, and in extreme cases imprisonment. If someone has breached an injunction against them, apply to the court for enforcement immediately.

Can injunctions be used against unknown defendants?

Yes — so-called persons unknown injunctions are used, for example, against protesters, website operators, or others whose identities aren’t yet known. These are complex and require careful drafting.

What’s the difference between an injunction and a restraining order?

In a business context, “restraining order” isn’t really used as a legal term in England and Wales — “injunction” is the correct terminology. Restraining orders in the criminal law context are different creatures.

Is a non-compete clause automatically enforceable?

No. A non-compete must be reasonable in scope, geography and duration to be enforceable. Courts will not enforce a clause that goes further than necessary to protect a legitimate business interest. Even a well-drafted clause can be challenged — an injunction application is the forum where that challenge happens.

Act Fast — Injunctions Are Time-Sensitive

If you think you need an injunction, the worst thing you can do is wait. The longer you leave it, the harder it becomes to argue urgency — and the more harm may be done in the meantime.

Get connected with a specialist solicitor →

Related Articles

Free Templates & Documents

Scroll to Top