The case was taken in the UK against scientists at Birmingham University who have written a paper on how the chips used in the anti-theft systems of many carmakers' models can be hacked.
The paper was due for publication next month, but the University has delayed it after the temporary injunction was obtained by Volkswagen, who said it could facilitate the thefts of cars, including high-end cars such as Porsches, Audis, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis.
Meanwhile, in the US hackers have demonstrated how they can disable brakes and other systems by linking into the electronics of a car.
Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, security executives with Google and consultancy IOActive respectively, received an $80,000 grant from the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency to find security vulnerabilities in vehicles.
They are due to release their results at the DEF CON hackers conference in Las Vegas, which begins today and runs through the weekend.
