Epson lodged a complaint on Feb. 17 with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against 24 companies that manufacture, import, or distribute aftermarket ink cartridges for resale in the U.S. The complaint alleges that the companies' cartridges infringe at least nine patents that cover numerous models of cartridges for Epson's desktop inkjet printers. Epson is asking the ITC to issue a general exclusion order prohibiting these companies and others from importing and selling infringing cartridges into the U.S.
In conjunction with the ITC complaint, Epson has also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore. against these same 24 companies, which includes several prominent Asian inkjet producers and U.S. distributors, asserting similar patent infringement claims. The District Court complaint seeks a permanent injunction against infringement and monetary damages.
"Epson recognizes and respects competitors' rights to sell aftermarket ink cartridges as long as they compete fairly, which includes not infringing patents," said Liz Leung, director of supplies marketing, Epson America. "As with numerous patent and trademark infringement lawsuits filed previously, we have taken both of these actions to protect the company's innovative products from unfair competition."
In July 2005, Union Trading Company Ltd. reached an agreement with the Seiko Epson Group on two lawsuits. Seiko Epson alleged patent infringement on specific Multi Union inkjet cartridges often sold under its Print-Rite brand and filed action against the company in the U.S. District Court in Portland. The suit was filed in April 2001 for 23 models and in March 2005 for an additional 49 models.
The settlement, which was reached after what Multi Union called in a written statement "vigorous litigation" efforts, prohibits Multi Union from selling the prescribed compatible inkjet cartridges within the U.S. Multi Union noted, however, that there are no restrictions on these cartridges outside of the U.S.
