Canon Takes Revenge on Ninestar in USA

Canon Takes Revenge on Ninestar in USA

Canon has issued a statement on its website saying it is taking legal action in California, USA against Ninestar for allegedly infringing its patents.

On September 17, 2020, Canon filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Ninestar Corporation, Ninestar Image Tech Limited, and Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd. (collectively, “Ninestar”), for infringement of Canon’s U.S. Patent Nos. 9,851,688; 9,857,766; 10,620,582; 10,712,709; and 10,712,710.

RT Media called industry commentators in the US. The court case was also “news” to them. “This is a revenge action on the part of Canon,” one commentator said. “Canon lost big time on April 20 against several aftermarket players, including Ninestar, as well as Aster, Print-Rite, LD Products, and The Supplies Guys.”

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided on April 20, 2020, against Canon and found in favor of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). US-based Merritt Blakeslee, who has been practising in international trade law since 1991 believes it has been a disaster for Canon since 2014 and Canon’s options are not looking good. Blakeslee spoke with RT’s David Gibbons about the April 2020 US Federal Circuit decision to rule unanimously against Canon which was appealing the earlier 2018 decision of the US International Trade Commission (USITC) which ruled that certain aftermarket design around solutions did not infringe Canon’s patents. According to Blakeslee, Canon made it very clear it believed the USITC’s interpretation of the patent claims to be overly narrow. It announced it would consider the available options.

“Canon is more aggressive than any of the printers OEMs,” Blakeslee said. “In the USA alone it has more than 3,500 patents and it uses this enormous portfolio of patents to protect its market share from the printer cartridge aftermarket which has been making larger and larger inroads.”

Canon’s Complaint

In its September 17, 2020 complaint, Canon claims Ninestar sells toner cartridges that infringe Canon’s patents for use in various models of Canon and HP laser beam printers. These include printers which accept Canon toner cartridge models 729 and HP toner cartridge models 126A and 130A. Canon asserts Ninestar sells the infringing toner cartridges online, including through Ninestar websites such as ninestartechonline.com, ninestarimage.com, ninestargroup.com and/or ggimage.com. Canon is seeking damages and injunctive relief.

Throughout the development, sales and marketing process, Canon says in its statement that it respects the intellectual property of other companies and individuals and expects others to similarly respect Canon’s intellectual property rights. Canon remains committed to pursuing legal enforcement against those who do not respect Canon’s intellectual property.

Ninestar Responds to Canon’s Complaint

Within 24 hours, Ninestar published an official response to Canon’s legal accusation that Ninestar allegedly infringed its patents. You can read that statement provided by Ninestar’s legal team to RT Media.

Related:

Comment:

Please add your comments below about this story, “Canon Takes Revenge on Ninestar in USA.”