Rivals Hijacked Trucks to Steal Technology ?

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SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Well the latest rumour is Hewlett Packard claims Chinese and Taiwanese competitors stole patented printer cartridge components from HP's factory in Singapore and copied them to sell made-to-order counterfeit HP inkjet cartridges on Amazon.com. "Trucks carrying HP parts were apparently hijacked while en route from the manufacturing facility in Singapore to the assembly plant in Malaysia ... in direct response to the heightened security measures that had been implemented in HP production facilities," HP says.
     After stealing the technology, Hewlett Packard claims, Microjet Technology (of Taiwan) Mipo Technology (of Hong Kong and mainland China), and their U.S. affiliates, including SinoTime Technologies (of Florida) sold more than 300,000 of the inkjet cartridges in the United States. The defendants have the capability to make nearly 10 million counterfeit cartridges a year in Asia, Hewlett Packard says.
     The federal filing is the latest in a long line of complaints that China is making up its technology gap with the United States through industrial espionage, theft, and wholesale patent infringement.
     MicroJet "sells generic and/or made-to-order infringing ink cartridges to other companies, including defendants Mipo and PTC [PTC Holdings Ltd., of Hong Kong]," and sells them itself as well, Hewlett Packard says. HP claims the defendants violated six patents after stealing the HP components.
     Hewlett Packard says it discovered the scheme after seeing color ink cartridges for sale on Amazon.com and Craigslist, advertised as "HP compatible."
     HP bought some of the cartridges from Amazon.com, then used HP's internal tracking database to cross-reference ID numbers on components, and found that the cartridges had "a genuine HP printhead and a non-HP cartridge body that closely resembled a genuine HP cartridge body."
     And it found that the printheads came from HP lots from Malaysia that had never been assembled by HP - "i.e., were identified as production gaps." All of these stolen items "were packaged in a 'Mipo' labeled box and were individually wrapped in a clear plastic interior packaging that is clearly consistent with the standard packaging for products manufactured by defendant Microjet," according to the complaint.
HP demands an injunction and damages for patent infringement, unfair competition and conversion.

Canon Settles Patent Dispute (Buy your stock NOW !)

Canon has settled a dispute with five Japanese companies over patent infringement issues.

The businesses, Ohm Electric Inc., Color Creation Inc., Ninestar Japan Co., Futurewell Holding Ltd. and REV Corp, are all ink cartridge manufacturers as well.

Canon filed an injunction at Tokyo's District Courts last January, claiming that the inkjet cartridges sold by the firms violated Canon's patent on units featuring LED lights.

Following a recommendation from the courts to settle the dispute amicably, the five companies in question agreed to no longer import, sell, deliver or display for sales purposes the products in question.

Accordingly, Canon decided to drop the charges against them.

Under the terms of the settlement, the printing giant has granted the companies a grace period for existing stock and on-order products until the end of February 2010, with the said period for certain inkjet cartridge models extended to March.

This is a note to users of Canon printers to stock up on inventory (if you use third party products) well in advance of the Feb deadline. Future stock of these products will no longer be available from these suppliers.

Epson Settles With 123inkjets.com

Epson has entered into a settlement agreement in its patent infringement lawsuit with one of the largest Internet retailers of aftermarket cartridges for Epson inkjet printers.

The settlement with E-Babylon Corp. dba 123inkjets.com and 411inkjets.com, a subsidiary of Valueclick Inc., resulted from a patent infringement lawsuit filed in June 2007 by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc., and Seiko Epson Corp. in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., against four resellers alleging infringement of a total of 18 patents that cover innovations in on-carriage cartridges for Epson desktop inkjet printers and off-carriage cartridges used in certain large format inkjet printers for graphic arts printing.

E-Babylon admitted infringement and enforceability of the patents and agreed to a permanent injunction that prohibits further infringements. Financial terms of the settlement were not releasedl.

Epson said “We commend E-Babylon for deciding to respect Epson’s patents and compete fairly,” said Elizabeth Leung, director, Consumer Supplies, Epson America Inc. “We will continue taking all necessary steps to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights and our investments in R&D against infringement and other unfair competition at every stage of the supply chain from manufacturing to distribution.”

Epson has taken aggressive measures worldwide to protect the company from unfair competition of all types, including a 10-year history of successful patent and trademark enforcement in the United States to protect its intellectual property rights relating to ink cartridges.

Most recently, Epson prevailed in a trial against 24 respondents accused of infringement in an ITC action. The judge made an Initial Determination that all cartridges accused in the case infringe Epson’s patents and recommended a General Exclusion Order that bars all imports of such infringing cartridges.

The ITC has issued a Final Determination on regarding the judge’s recommendations.

Epson has set up a web site at http://itc.epson.com to provide importers and resellers with timely information about the ITC action and orders.

The respondents in the ITC case are believed to supply most of the cartridges sold by the defendants in Epson’s latest lawsuit.

Epson anticipates that it may have to file additional lawsuits against retailers to limit unfair competition and assure the payment of any damages because some ITC respondents are continuing sales to U.S. retailers while limiting their direct presence in the U.S. and not actively defending the ITC action.

HP Resolves Inkjet Catridge Patent Dispute

Hewlett-Packard wins in patent dispute

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday announced that it has resolved a patent dispute regarding the ink used in its inkjet cartridge refills

InkTec named in suit

HP last year filed suit against German-based InkTec GmbH Zentrale, InkTec's Korea-based manufacturer and distributor and PCE Group for selling HP ink refill kits under the InkTec brand.

InkTec admits infringement

As part of the deal, InkTec and PCE Group, which distributed the infringing cartridges with InkTec, admitted to infringing upon HP patents and agreed to pay HP an undisclosed sum, according to HP. The two companies will also stop selling the offending cartridges in Germany and other countries where similar patents are held.