Seiko Epson Corporation, Epson America, and Epson Portland (collectively Epson) have filed two more patent-infringement lawsuits accusing online aftermarket cartridge sellers of infringing Epson’s U.S. patents 6,502,917 (’917) and 8,794,749 (’749). This brings the total number of lawsuits that Epson has filed since November 2016 over this pair of patents to 10. The two latest
Sometimes persistence pays off. On June 19, a jury awarded Canon nearly $4.5 million in damages after finding that Color Imaging and General Plastic had infringed a patent Canon holds on toner bottles. The verdict brings to an end nearly six years of litigation between the OEM and the aftermarket supplies firms. Background Canon initially
HP is fighting a consolidated class action that accuses the printer giant of violating various laws by triggering an inkjet printer firmware update in September 2016 to disable printing from aftermarket inkjet cartridges. HP filed a motion to dismiss the consolidated complaint in April. Last month, the plaintiffs filed a motion opposing the motion to
Just three days after being issued a seizure-and-forfeiture order by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for violating one of HP’s general exclusion orders (GEOs), Inksac Corp. was handed a second such order for violating one of Epson’s GEOs. As we reported last week, on June 13, the ITC issued Inksac a seizure-and-forfeiture order for
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has decided to institute an advisory opinion proceeding to determine whether certain Ninestar remanufactured inkjet cartridges are outside the scope of the general exclusion orders (GEOs) and cease-and-desist orders awarded to Epson in the 337-TA-565 and 337-TA-946 investigations. Ninestar Image Tech Ltd., Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd., and Apex Microtech
Earlier this week, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued its ninth seizure-and-forfeiture order of 2017 related to printer consumables. The ITC issues such orders after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) finds products that violate the ITC’s general exclusion orders (GEOs) at U.S. ports and excludes such products from entry. The latest firm to receive
On June 15, Canon Inc. announced that it was awarded a preliminary injunction against M & S Vertrieb Service OHG for infringement of a Canon dongle gear patent in Germany. According to Canon’s press release, the District Court Düsseldorf granted the preliminary injunction based on M & S Vertrieb Service OHG’s infringement of the German
Industry websites Recycling Times Media and OPI report that Brother International and Brother’s New Zealand subsidiary have taken legal action against various local Cartridge World stores in New Zealand High Court. The two websites report that Brother investigated remanufactured/refilled cartridges sold by Cartridge World stores in New Zealand, warned the stores about what Brother saw
At the end of May, an appeals court in the Netherlands upheld a win for the Dutch online cartridge reseller Digital Revolution B.V., which operates the website 123inkt.nl, in a patent-infringement case brought against the firm by HP. The appellate court invalidated one of HP’s patent claims and determined that Digital Revolution did not infringe
Selling infringing products online at sites like Amazon can cost you, even if you elect not to defend yourself in any litigation filed. That’s a key takeaway from Epson’s lawsuit against Century21 Electronics. After a default judgment was issued in the case, Epson subpoenaed sales records from Amazon and is now asking the court to
