In a Complaint filed on 23 November 2020 by Brother Industries, Ltd., Brother International Corporation (U.S.A.), and Brother Industries (U.S.A.), Inc., the companies are seeking declaratory judgment that Brother does not infringe U.S. Patent No. RE46,596 (the “’596 Patent”).
Brother says in its filing that the Complaint filed against LINKYO CORP. necessary because LINKYO has asserted ownership of the ’596 Patent and has accused Brother and third-party sellers of its products of infringing and initiated an Amazon Utility Patent Neutral Evaluation asserting infringement of the ’596 Patent by Brother-branded toner cartridge products sold on Amazon.com.
In the complaint Brother says that “the accused Brother-branded toner cartridge products are manufactured for and supplied by Brother” and it “denies that it has infringed any claim of the ’596 Patent.”
LINKYO started asserting the patent ownership earlier in November and has been accusing Brother of manufacturing and supplying products that infringe. The cartridge models include Brother’s TN-720, TN-750, and TN-780 cartridges.
With its filed Complaint, Brother is looking “for judgment that Brother-branded toner cartridge products and Brother do not infringe and have not infringed, directly or indirectly, literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, any claim of the ’596 Patent.” And is also asking the courts “for a preliminary and permanent injunction precluding LINKYO, its officers, directors, employees, agents, and all other persons acting in concert or participation with LINKYO from suing for infringement or otherwise asserting infringement of the ’596 Patent by Brother-branded toner cartridge products or against Brother.”
