Hewlett-Packard Co. filed a 28-page federal lawsuit against several manufacturers from Taiwan and Hong Kong for the potential infringement of the company's "printer cartridge patents and selling products stolen from H-P." The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. This is the "latest case of a U.S. company claiming overseas manufacturers don't respect its intellectual property," according to the WSJ report.
The allegations are as follows [1]:
- "Taiwan's MicroJet Technology Co. manufactured and sold ink cartridges that infringe on HP's technology. Some components were sold to companies affiliated with Mipo Group (Holding) Co., of Hong Kong, and PTC Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong, which resold them."
- "Mipo converted stolen H-P components and sold them under its own label.
- "MicroJet infringed on six of its patents to build ink cartridges that it sold under its own name and as part of generic or made-to-order cartridges sold by other companies, including Mipo and PTC."
- "Mipo later sold the allegedly infringing products on Web sites, including those run by Amazon.com Inc. and Craigslist. H-P representatives purchased those products from Amazon between April 2009 and June 2009."
- "Mipo sold products that appear to have been converted from authentic H-P products stolen from its facilities. The lawsuit says H-P purchased Mipo products sold by its U.S. unit via Amazon, and discovered they were made of a genuine H-P print head-the element of a printer that applies an image to paper-and a third-party cartridge body. Mipo and other parties converted over 300,000 genuine print heads, according to the lawsuit."
According to the lawsuit, HP is asking for an immediate injunction from its allegedly patent infringing products sales and use. HP is also seeking treble damages caused by the infringement and other applicable monetary damages.
Supporting Resources
[1] The following allegations are in accordance with and worded from the lawsuit and the WSJ.
