The story
Named after Arrow Generics Ltd. v Merck & Co Inc [2007] EWHC 1900 (Pat), in which it was originally suggested that this mechanism would be available as a declaratory relief.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Arrow declaration
Today it means: A declaration or order sought, for reasons of legal certainty, from a court that a product or process to be launched was old (i.e., not novel) or obvious in patent law terms at a particular date, so that the product (or process) cannot be affected by (i.e., cannot infringe) any later granted patent, which would itself necessarily also either lack novelty or inventive step. Full definition →