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HP files patent suit against DIY ink refiller
Suit filed in Germany; similar cases have failed in U.S.
November 2006 Hewlett-Packard
Co. is taking legal action against a German subsidiary of a Korean
company for violating HP’s printer ink patents.HP Wednesday filed a
formal complaint in Germany’s court system alleging that InkTec
Corp.-branded “do-it-yourself” cartridge refill kits violate HP’s
patents. Even though InkTec is in South Korea, HP filed the complaint
in Germany because that’s where the suspect ink cartridges were
found.HP said the discovery of the infringing InkTec products is the
result of ongoing testing and enforcement efforts within the Supplies
unit of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group. Over the past year, the same
initiative has uncovered ink patent infringements by other companies
that offer generic ink supplies through refilling stations or “private
label” brands.Both its inks and ink cartridges are highly engineered
and protected by multiple patents, HP said. They are considered the
highest-margin products sold by HP, which also sells desktop and
notebook computers, servers and storage technology, printers and other
products.Because replacement cartridges cost $30 or more apiece,
numerous businesses have sprung up in recent years to refill existing
cartridges for sometimes half the price of a new cartridge. In the
U.S., printer vendor Lexmark lost Digital Millennium Copyright
Act-based case against third-party toner refiller Static Control
Components in 2005. HP also settled a ink-refill patent suit with
InkCycle in 2005.InkTec is a provider of inks, remanufactured
cartridges and cartridge refill kits whose stock trades on the Korean
stock exchange.
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