GERMANY : BROTHER GETS INJUNCTION AGAINST PELIKAN

[Anonymous]

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1889085/
BROTHER GETS INJUNCTIONS AGAINST GERMAN COPYCAT INK CARTRIDGES
NAGOYA,
Sep 2008 Brother Industries Ltd.said Wednesday that two German office
products manufacturers have been ordered by a court to stop selling ink
cartridges the Japanese firm says infringe on its intellectual property
rightsThe Dusseldorf District Court issued preliminary injunctions
against Pelikan VmbH and German Hardcopy AG, each of which might
appeal. Some of the companies’ ink cartridges are compatible with
Brother multifunction printers and similar in shape to Brother products
designed for easy replacement.

Brother sent warning letters to
four firms in June. Two of them stopped selling the ink cartridges at
issue, but Pelikan and German Hardcopy continued to sell theirs.
Consequently, Brother took them to court in July.The Japanese firm
sells mainly multifunction printers in Germany, its largest overseas
market after the U.S., with German sales reaching about 40 billion yen
in fiscal 2007, or nearly 10 per cent of its overall group sales. The
firm’s ink cartridges are produced primarily in China, selling millions
of units a year in Germany.

[Author]

September 18, 2008 at 3:19 PM