Canon Takes Down Infringing Cartridges Sold Online in China

Canon Inc. has filed complaints with Alibaba over allegedly infringing cartridges being sold on its online Tmall store in China.

Tmall, a spin-off from Taobao Mall, is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail, by the Alibaba Group. With more than 500 million monthly active users, it was the third most visited website globally in 2021. Tmall is a B2C platform but Taobao is C2C

Canon alleged that certain cartridges being sold infringe Chinese Invention Patent No. ZL200880003520.0. Specifically, the offerings identified by Canon, are shown in the table below. Canon requested that Alibaba remove these offerings from Tmall.

At the time of Canon’s announcement, the offerings identified in the complaints were no longer available on Tmall.

Accepting and handling an intellectual property right holder’s complaint against acts of allegedly infringing upon its claimed intellectual property rights is provided by Alibaba. Alibaba’s decision to remove the allegedly infringing cartridge from Tmall is at the discretion of Alibaba and is based on the information provided by Canon. Alibaba’s act of removing the product does not comprise any official finding of validity or infringement of a patent and the vendor to whom the takedown is made may object to it.

In a company statement on the matter, Canon said it respects the intellectual property rights of others and will continue to enforce its own intellectual property rights. Canon also stated it appreciates the support of Alibaba in protecting its intellectual property.