| Another Section 337 Investigation Filed at USITC on Printing Consumables Industry |
| [ Time：2021/3/19 16:52:16 Font-size：Big Middle Small 632 hits ] |
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On March 8, 2021, Canon filed a 337 investigation at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) against 26 manufacturers, distributors and sellers of toner supply containers, including Nastar, Zhuhai Henyun, SCC, GPI and MITOCOLOR, etc. Canon alleged that products related on certain toner supply containers and components thereof that the 26 companies exported, imported and sold in the United States infringed their U.S. patents. According to our statistics, this is the 16th Section 337 Investigation at USITC on the printing consumables industry.
Among the 26 defendants, according to the address of defendants, 10 companies are located in mainland China, one is located in Taiwan, and the rest are located in the United States.
Case overview
The above 337 investigation has not been formally filed, therefore the USITC assigned the investigation a temporary case number 337-3536. Plaintiff: Canon Inc.；Canon U.S.A., Inc.；Canon Virginia, Inc. Defendant:
Canon asserts the following patents have been infringed: US10209667，US10289060，US10289061，US10295957,10488814，US10496032，US10496033，US10514654，US10520881，US10520882，US8565649，US9354551 and US9753402. These 13 patents belong to 2 patent families, and the claims involved are as follows: The first patent family:
The second patent family:
Products involved The products involved are toner supply containers for Canon image forming equipment (such as copiers), including Canon imageRUNNER®, imageRUNNER® ADVANCE and imageRUNNER® ADVANCE DX for specific models of copiers, such as GPR for Canon imageRUNNER® ADVANCE C3325i copiers -53 model toner supply container (as shown below).
Remedies requested by CANON: Canon requested USITC to issue a General Exclusion Order (GEO) or a limited exclusion order, as well as a prohibition order.
In addition to the Section 337 investigation filed by Canon at USITC, Canon also issued a statement on its official website stating that its district courts in various regions of the United States also filed lawsuits against 26 defendants, accusing them of infringing Canon’s asserted patents.
It is expected that the above Section 337 Investigation will be formally filed on April 8, 2021, US time. Once the USITC filed an investigation, the defendant's time to respond will be about 20 or 30 days. Based on our years of experience in responding to ITC investigations, from case initiation to the investigation, the time limit of one month or so is an important time for companies to respond to the investigation, which can be said to be a "golden" time for companies. Companies need to think about whether the product is infringing or whether the patent is valid, how to appease customers, whether to respond to a lawsuit or join as a third party, etc.
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