Canon Wins Inkjet Patent Case as Federal Circuit Rejects Slingshot Claims.

In a significant win for Canon U.S.A., Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed that key inkjet printhead patent claims held by Slingshot Printing LLC are unpatentable, marking a decisive outcome in Slingshot Printing LLC v. Canon U.S.A., Inc.. The court upheld the earlier ruling by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, concluding that the disputed claims—covering semiconductor substrates for micro-fluid ejection devices—were obvious in light of prior art. This decision strengthens Canon’s position in the competitive inkjet printing market while weakening Slingshot’s ability to enforce its patent rights, and it underscores a broader trend in patent law where incremental innovations in printhead technology face heightened scrutiny and invalidation risks.