Epson Sues Several Ink Cartridge Resellers

Seiko Epson has filed more lawsuits against companies making or selling third-party ink cartridges that it believes infringe upon its intellectual patents.

The company filed a complaint last week with the U.S. International Trade Commission against 24 companies that manufacture, import, or distribute aftermarket ink cartridges for sale in the U.S., the Japanese company said this week. The complaint seeks to ban the companies from importing or selling the cartridges in question in the U.S.

In conjunction with this case the company also filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland against the same companies seeking damages for the alleged intellectual property infringement.

Epson has also kicked off a patent infringement case against the English High Court against Medea International, it said. As in the U.S. cases Epson is alleging that ink cartridges imported by Medea International, which are sold in the U.K. under the Inkrite Photo Plus brand, infringe upon its patents.

The case against the U.K. company was brought after it began promoting a spongeless valve design in its cartridges as being "radically different and unique." In fact, the design is similar to a patented Epson technology and the lawsuit was brought "to set the record straight," Epson said in a statement.

Similar Situation

Epson fought similar battles in 2005.

In April it filed lawsuits in the same Portland court against Armor, of Nantes, France, and Multi-Union Trading, of Hong Kong. The latter ended with a settlement that saw 75 of Multi-Union's cartridge models barred from being imported and sold in the U.S.

In June the U.K.'s Environmental Business Products said it had stopped importing and supplying Epson-compatible printer cartridges as a result of an out of court settlement between it and the Japanese company and in October another British company, CybaHouse, agreed to stop selling and importing Epson-compatible cartridges as part of a settlement with Epson.