Canon takes action against aftermarket over toner cartridge gears
January 27, 2012
Image from Canon's patent at the centre of the case
The case has been taken up against a number of companies in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as in the United States International Trade Commission (USITC).
In the district court suit, Canon cites Clover Holdings, Clover Technologies Group and other companies, including Data Products, Clover Vietnam, CAU and Data Products Imaging Solutions S.A. De C.V. This case has been brought concerning the patent number 5,903,803, which the district court lists as: “Process cartridge, electrophotographic image forming apparatus, driving force transmission part, and electrophotographic photosensitive drum”.
The USITC case meanwhile appears at first glance to be far more widespread, with the following defendants named by the USITC:
-Clover Holdings
-Clover Technologies Group
-Clover Vietnam
-Dataproducts USA
-Dataproducts Imaging Solutions S.A.
-CAU
-Shanghai Orink Infotech International
-Orink Infotech International
-Zhuhai Rich Imaging Technology
-Standard Image Co,. Ltd
-Zhuhai National Resources & Jingjie Imagine
Products
-Standard Image USA
-Printronic Corporation
-Nukote, Inc
-Nukote Internacional de Mexico S.A.
-Acecom, Inc.
-Atman, Inc.
-Dexxxon Digital Storage
-Discount Office Items
-Deal Express
-Do It Wiser
-E-Max Group, Inc.
-Green Project, Inc.
-GreenLine Paper Company, Inc.
-IJSS Inc.
-Imaging Resources
-Ink Technologies Printer Supplies
-Myria Greeyn
-Office World, Inc.
-OfficeWorld.com, Inc.
-OnlineTechStores.com, Inc.
-SupplyBuy.com, Inc.
-Virtual Imaging Products, Inc.
-Zinyaw
The USITC notes that it has “received” a complaint from Canon, and is now in the process of “soliciting comments on any public interest issues raised”. Both cases were placed on 23 January, with the USITC specifically noting that Canon has “allege[d] violations of section 337” which concerns “importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain toner cartridges and components thereof”.
The USITC also provided a document containing the patent that Canon is alleging infringement of, as well as a list of printers from both Canon and HP that the infringed patent is used in.
The patent document itself notes the patent as dating back to 1994, titled “process cartridge and image forming device capable of loading and unloading the same cartridge”. The purpose of the patent is stated as:
“To miniaturize a process cartridge by providing a 1st driving transmission part which is disposed at one end side of an image carrier and drives the image carrier by receiving driving force from an image forming device side and a 2nd driving transmission part which is disposed at the other end side of the image carrier and drives a member to be driven by following the driving of the image carrier.”
Actionable Intelligence noted that the case is a “reman nightmare” realized, particularly with Clover’s inclusion in a case after its steady stream of consolidations and acquisitions over the past two years, which have made it one of the largest aftermarket companies in the industry.
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