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Epson hits another ink cartridge maker
The UK’s Environmental Business Products will stop selling Epson-compatible ink cartridges after being sued by Epson.
For
the second time in a week a manufacturer of Epson-compatible ink
cartridges is taking its products off the market as a result of legal
action by Seiko Epson, the Japanese company said Friday.Environmental
Business Products has stopped importing and supplying Epson-compatible
printer cartridges as a result of an out of court settlement between
the two companies, Epson said in a statement. Epson had brought
proceedings against the London company in the U.K. High Court for
infringement of a number of patents and registered designs owned by
Epson, the statement said.The company and others like it offer ink
cartridges or refills that can be used in Epson printers and are
typically cheaper than those from Epson. For printer makers the sale of
replacement ink is a major source of profit.The action couldn’t
immediately be confirmed with the U.K. company, which has operations in
the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. The Epson
statement included a quote from Environmental Business Products’
managing director, saying sales of Epson-compatible cartridges were
stopped because the company isn’t confident its products would be found
not to infringe on Epson’s patents.In addition to the halt in sales,
Environmental Business Products will also have to pay legal costs and
“a substantial payment” for damages, Epson said. The amounts involved
were not disclosed.Earlier last week Epson reached a settlement
with Hong Kong-based Multi-Union Trading Co. Ltd. as part of a patent
infringement lawsuit brought in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Oregon in Portland. That will see 75 of Multi-Union’s
cartridge models barred from being imported and sold in the U.S., Epson
said. The cartridges are sold under the PrintRite brand and other
names.Epson is also pursuing a number of other companies, said Alastair
Bourne, a spokesman for the Suwa-based company. They include Armor, a
third-party cartridge maker in Nantes, France, which is being sued in
the same Portland court as Multi-Union. The spokesman wouldn’t name any
other companies.The recent string of court actions and resolutions
doesn’t point to a crackdown but comes as a result of Epson deciding to
publicize the legal actions it takes, Bourne said.”It’s important to
send a message out that we are serious about defending our intellectual
property and also protecting fair competition,” he said. “We believe in
respecting other people’s intellectual property and we expect other
people to respect ours and so we’d like to send that message.”
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