Seiko Epson, Tokyo, Japan, and its subsidiaries, Epson America, and Epson Portland, have sued a total of 24 companies for importing and/or distributing Epson ink cartridges in the United States without a proper license and also initiated an international trade complaint.

 

The complaint states the companies aided, abetted and knowingly induced patent infringement by producing, importing and selling aftermarket Epson products without legal consent.

 

The companies include those that manufacture in China, Germany, Korea and Mexico in addition to the USA companies importing cartridges. The USA companies named in the Epson lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon USA include Glory South Software, Nectron International, Mipo America, Nine Star Technology, Town Sky Inc., MMC Consumables, Inkjetwarehouse.com, Ribbon Tree (USA) Apex, Inc Tec (America), Dataproducts USA, Rhinotek and Acujet.  The companies that are alleged to not hold licenses to manufacture ink cartridges for resale include: Butterfly Print Image, Ink Lab, Mipo International, Nine Star Image, Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric, Tully Imaging Supplies, Wellink Trading Co., Ribbon Tree (Macao), Artech GmbH, Ink Tec (Korea) and Master Ink Co.

 

Epson is seeking repayment of past damages and interest, plus attorney¡¯s fees and maintains the patent infringement caused irreparable damages and a jury trial to stop illegal infringement.

 

Epson America and Seiko Epson Corporation have also filed a Section 337 complaint before the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting that an unfair import investigation be instituted involving "Certain Ink Cartridges." The docket number is 337-2471. The respondents are Glory South Software Mfg. Inc., Buena Park, CA; Butterfly Print Image Corp. Ltd., Hong Kong; Ink Lab (H.K.) Co. Ltd., Hong Kong; Nectron International, Ltd. Sugar Land, TX; Mipo International Ltd., Hong Kong; Mipo America Ltd., Miami, FL; Nine Star Image Co. Ltd., Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China; Nine Star Technology Co. Ltd. Montclair, CA; Town Sky Inc. South San Francisco, CA; Zhuhai Gree Magneto - Electric Co. Ltd., Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China; MMC Consumables Inc. Walnut, CA; Tully Imaging Supplies Ltd., Hong Kong; Inkjetwarehouse.com Inc., Canton, CT; Wellink Trading Co., Ltd, China; Ribbon Tree (Macao) Trading Co., Ltd. Macao, China; Ribbon Tree (USA) Inc. Ferndale, WA; Apex Distributing Inc.

Ferndale, WA; Artech GMBH, Dorfmund, Germany; Ink Tec Co. Ltd., Ansan-City, Kyungki-Do, Korea; Ink Tec America Corp. Elkridge, MD; Dataproducts USA LLC, Thousand Oaks, CA; Rhinotek Computer Products, Compton, CA; Master Ink Co., Ltd., Hong Kong; and AcuJet U.S.A., Inc., City of Industry, CA.

 

The U.S. International Trade Commission has 30-35 days from the filing date of the complaints in which to decide whether to institute an investigation.