Canon Withdraws Its Complaint against Chinese Companies

Back on May 8, Canon lodged its complaint against many remanufacturers and distributors with the US International Trade Commission, also called the USITC.Canon claimed certain printer cartridges made and sold by the aftermarket, infringed their patents.

However, according to the ITC 337 Law Blog Administrative law judge David Shaw has now issued an order, granting a motion filed by Canon, to terminate the investigation against Chinese based Ninestar Image Tech and Seine Image International.

At first it appeared the two companies had been vindicated, but according to Canon’s motion, the two companies dropped from the complaint—Ninestar Image-Hong Kong and Seine Image-Hong Kong—do not exist.

According to the motion, “there are no agreements, written or oral, express or implied, between Canon and Ninestar Image-Hong Kong or Seine Image-Hong Kong concerning the subject matter of this
investigation.”

Canon further stipulates “the termination of this investigation as to Ninestar Image-Hong Kong and Seine Image-Hong Kong is purely in the interests of the public and administrative economy, as removing these nonexistent entities from the investigation will conserve both public and private resources.”

To date, 43 companies had been named by Canon in the complaint. Four companies: Provantage, Printronic, Online Tech Stores and Nectron International have conceded and are settling with Canon.