Epson Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Prominent Replacement Cartridge Manufacturer

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2001--Epson has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., against PrintRite Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong and Dynamic Print USA Inc., its U.S. sales subsidiary.

The lawsuit by Seiko Epson Corp., Epson Portland Inc. and Epson America Inc. alleges that replacement ink jet cartridges for Epson Stylus printers manufactured by PrintRite in China and distributed in the United States under the PrintRite and other brand names infringe numerous Epson patents.

According to Rajeev Mishra, Epson America's Group Manager of Supplies Marketing: "Epson was forced to take this action to protect the company from unfair competition through the continued sales of cartridges that are infringing copies of Epson's patented ink cartridges. Epson has made huge investments in R&D and manufacturing in the United States and elsewhere to produce high quality, patented ink cartridges. This lawsuit is part of Epson's worldwide effort to protect the company and its customers from unfair competition of all sorts, including the sale of patent-infringing ink cartridges under third-party brands, as in this case, and the sale of outright counterfeit ink cartridges sold under the Epson brand, in other cases."

(This probably means that you better go over to eBay now and grab up a bunch of those Epson-compatible cartridges for your printer before they vanish forever.)