The OEM won a case in South Korea against the drum manufacturer.
South Korea’s Supreme Court
Canon reported earlier today that it had won an IP lawsuit in the Korean Supreme Court against Korean photosensitive drum manufacturer AlphaChem, with the ruling handed down on 24 July.
The “favourable” decisions granted to Canon have affirmed both the Korean Patent Court and Seoul High Court’s earlier rulings, which accused AlphaChem of patent infringement concerning photosensitive drums for use in toner cartridges, with the patent in question Korean patent number 258,609.
In turn, the Korean Supreme Court also ruled that the High Court’s decision that “the ruling of the patent invalidation made by the Korean Trade Commission” in an investigation against five photosensitive drum manufacturers “should be revoked”, with all decisions from the Supreme Court both “final” and unable to “be appealed”.
Canon stated that the ruling of patent infringement given against AlphaChem “is final”, and as such the company “can no longer make or sell the infringing photosensitive drums”. The OEM stated that “throughout the development, sales and marketing process, Canon respects the intellectual property of other companies and individuals, and expects these entities to similarly respect Canon’s intellectual property rights”.
The Recycler reported in 2011 on a number of manufacturers of photosensitive drums being acquitted of patent infringement accusations from Canon in South Korea.