Companies Settle With Canon Over Ink Patent Infringement

999inks.co.uk News: Companies Settle With Canon Over Ink Patent Infringement


A patent infringement lawsuit raised by Canon against five companies in Japan has been settled. The suit concerned the firms’ alleged recreation of Canon’s LED-equipped ink cartridges - a patented innovation – in their own cartridges without permission. The settlement means the five companies concerned are agreed not to sell, import or display the patented cartridges. Canon has agreed to drop the lawsuit.

Canon’s preliminary injunction for the lawsuit was petitioned on 31 October last year. Since then the Japanese ink merchants have agreed to halt sales of 28 products of 3 brands. Each of these products, though non-genuine, is compatible with Canon printers.

Canon’s press release – dated 17 December – contains an (almost) apologia for the lawsuit. It states: ‘Canon filed a patent infringement suit for preliminary and permanent injunctions because the company determined that the abovementioned actions infringed its intellectual property rights.’ This self-justification accompanies a grace period in which the Japanese companies must dispose of their inventories of the patented ink cartridges. The closing date is the 31st March 2010.