Ricoh, Xerox and Lexmark Take Joint Actions

Ricoh Americas, Xerox and Lexmark jointly filed two actions at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), including Inter Partes Review of U.S. Patent No. 8,488,173 and certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,477,410.

As was revealed, the companies are asking the USPTO to rule the claims for U.S. Patent No. 8,488,173 “are unpatentable and were fully anticipated by various prior art references”. Also, the companies noted that “MPHJ’s business practices are currently under investigation or have previously been investigated by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as the Attorneys General of Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Vermont”.

The companies stated that the actions show their effort to protect their customers and dealers against the assertion of these patents by MPHJ Technology Investments. Also, they will continue to monitor MPHJ’s licensing efforts and will update their customers and authorized dealer networks with any further developments from the USPTO’s Review.

“Ricoh, Xerox and Lexmark have clear positions on the protection of intellectual property. We feel strongly that the infringement claims are without merit and the licensing demands of MPHJ are unsubstantiated. We feel it is important to take this action to support our customers and dealer networks from these frivolous claims,” the companies said in the joint statement.

According to the announcement, Ricoh and Xerox asked for nullifying U.S. Patent No. 7,986,426 and helped disable MPHJ’s licensing campaign in May 2013.