Epson Exclusion Order Upheld
Epson compatible ink cartridges in this country will continue to be hard to come by as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington D.C. has ruled in favor of Epson. The ruling supports the 2007 Final Determination of the General Exclusion Order entered by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), to block all imports of infringing inkjets. The Order is being actively enforced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service.
Ninestar led the appeals charge by defending itself against the patent infringement claims made by Epson.
That appeal was lost on January 13, 2009 when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Epson and upheld the Final Determination and General Exclusion Order of the ITC.
The General Exclusion Order, determined in October 2007, resulted from a complaint filed by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc., and the Seiko Epson Corp. against numerous aftermarket ink cartridge manufacturers and distributors, including Ninestar Technologies Co,, Ltd., China, its American subsidiaries and Dataproducts USA, LLC., a division of Clover Technologies Group.
That trial resulted in a Final Determination and General Exclusion and Cease and Desist Orders prohibiting importing of infringing new and refilled cartridges that the trial determined violated several Epson patents. The General Exclusion Order and Cease and Desist Orders do not bar imports or resale of non-infringing cartridges. However, the Exclusion Order does direct U.S. Customs to bar all imports of infringing cartridges. The Cease and Desist order prohibits the respondent companies and their distributors from all sales of infringing cartridges.
Epson has a
Web site that provides information to explain the legal requirements that distributors, importers and retailers need to meet and the information on the site makes known the consequences of violating the orders and continued infringement.