In an out of court settlement, Pelikan has admitted infringing several patents owned by Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Germany-based Pelikan Hardcopy Deutschland GmbH and the Swiss Pelikan Hardcopy (International) AG admitted claims asserted by HP in an action for patent infringement filed with the Düsseldorf Regional Court in Germany.
Based on this admission, the court issued a judgment ordering Pelikan to stop importing and distributing the infringing cartridges and to pay damages to HP. Pelikan also was ordered to recall all infringing products that might still be in the distribution channel.
The issue surrounded the Pelikan H06 and H08 colour cartridges which are marketed as alternatives to HP’s No.28 and No.57 cartridges. In particular HP had alleged that patents protecting the cartridge head circuitry and precise ink composition had been infringed.
The cartridges in question were newly manufactured products sourced from Asia. According to Heise online, this may have been the source of the infringement as a shortfall in supplies could have been made up with supplies illegal in Germany without the knowledge of Pelikan’s Hanover headquarters.
The status of HP’s other case against Pelikan, accusing it of unfair competition practices by marketing the cartridges as “remanufactured”, remains unclear.
Michael Hoffmann, senior vice president, Supplies, Imaging and Printing Group, HP said “At HP, we take our investment in intellectual property very seriously and are pleased to resolve this matter without extensive litigation. We will remain vigilant in monitoring Pelikan and others for possible patent infringement as part of our ongoing worldwide testing and enforcement efforts.”
Pelikan issued the following comment:
“In a patent infringement action before Düsseldorf Regional Court, Pelikan Hardcopy has acknowledged the patent claims asserted by suing printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard. The action concerned ink cartridges sold by Pelikan Hardcopy, which replace Hewlett-Packard cartridges no. 57 and no. 28.
The products currently still sold be Pelikan under the old article numbers do not infringe the specified patents.
Pelikan points out that it considers it a basic principle to only sell products which have been patent-checked beforehand. If it subsequently emerges that a product could be at risk of patent infringement, this product is modified. Pelikan therefore still does everything to ensure that the products which it sells are not patent-infringing.”
