The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, Washington D.C.
Inkjet cartridges shipped into the USA infringed a previous General Exclusion Order (GEO).
The USITC (United States International Trade Commission) reported on a ‘seizure and forfeiture order’ relating to a GEO that HP was awarded in 2011. The USITC stated that the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection had found that the company had “attempted to import the articles into the United States”, with the agency denying entry of the products.
The document also notes that the agency “provided the owner, importer, or consignee of the articles” with “written notice of the aforesaid exclusion order”, notifying them that “any further attempt to import the articles into the United States” would end in seizure or forfeiture of the products in question.
The USITC document concludes by stating that any “inkjet ink supplies and components thereof that are imported in violation” of the GEO “are to be seized and forfeited to the United States” if “imported by” Ninestar Technology Co., Ltd. The case is unrelated to the recent announcement that Ninestar and Apex Microelectronics have been named in another HP IP case in the USA, though this case is also related to the OEM’s inkjet cartridges.