The general exclusion order was issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission following their investigation.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has concluded its investigation, No. 337-TA-1260, and issued its findings in Canon’s favour, having found a violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and has issued a general exclusion order (GEO).
In April 2021, the USITC announced its decision to conduct investigations into Canon’s complaint that 26 companies are infringing one or more of their imageRUNNER patents. Canon asserted the following patents have been infringed: 8,565,649; 9,354,551; 9,753,402; 10,209,667; 10,289,060; 10,289,061; 10,295,957; 10,488,814; 10,496,032; 10,496,033; 10,514,654; 10,520,881; and 10,520,882.
The patents relate to the Canon imageRUNNER copier series and the following toner supply containers: GPR-51, GPR-52, GPR-53, GPR-53/GPR-53L, GPR-55/GPR-55L, GPR-57, GPR-58 and GPR-62.
The Commission instituted two separate investigations (Inv. No. 337-TA-1259 and Inv. No. 337-TA-1260) based on the complaint and defined the scope of the present investigation as whether there is a violation of section 337 based on the allegations of infringement as to the asserted claims of the ’649, ’551, and ’402 patents as to the accused products identified in the notice of investigation (NOI).
The Commission’s determination in Inv. No. 337-TA-1259 will separately address any violation of section 337 based on infringement of the asserted claims of the remaining patents in Canon’s complaint.
The announcement by the ITC for Inv. No. 337-TA-1260 said: “Having reviewed the record of the investigation, including the ID and Canon’s and OUII’s submissions, the Commission has found a violation of section 337 with respect to Defaulting Respondents.
“Moreover, the Commission finds that the statutory requirements for issuance of a GEO under section 337(g)(2) are met.”
With the issuance of the GEO, the investigation No. 337-TA-1260 is terminated.
