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Pelikan recognizes HP’s printer cartridge patent claims
Within the context of the patent infringement lawsuit filed by the printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard with the District Court in Düsseldorf against the Hanover-based printer consumables supplier Pelikan Hardcopy, the defendant has now recognized the patent claims of the plaintiff. When asked about the case by heise online, a spokesman of the court on the afternoon of Friday the 27th of July 2007 confirmed that this was the case. The hearing scheduled for next Thursday had therefore been canceled, the spokesman added.The lawsuit had centered on Pelikan’s alternative cartridges to HP’s No. 28 and No. 57 triple color cartridges, which are used in many older, still very popular Deskjet printers. In a departure from common practice Pelikan is alleged to have marketed newly manufactured copies of the originals in place of used and refilled original cartridges. The integrated print head of these cartridges in particular is protected by a variety of patents. Thus HP has patented, among other features, the way in which the FET circuits have been adapted and the ground lead arrangement of the wiring heater element of the thermal print head. In addition Hewlett-Packard had claimed that three of its patents relating to the composition of the ink itself had been violated.
Details of the out-of-court settlement have not been released by either party. Neither HP nor Pelikan have yet been prepared to comment. It thus remains unclear what the impact on the future range of HP inkjet printer consumables offered by Pelikan will be. Whether the settlement includes a promise by HP to withdraw the action it has filed with the District Court in Cologne also remains to be seen. In the action filed there the printer manufacturer had accused Pelikan of unfair competition practices, because the cartridge copies marketed by Pelikan had on their packaging inaccurately been described as recycled products.
Observers do not exclude the possibility that Pelikan itself might have been the victim of irregularities perpetrated by foreign suppliers, which, without the headquarters in Hanover being aware of what was happening, had on occasion made up for the odd scarcity of empty originals by turning to patent-infringing copies made in Asia.
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