Ninestar responds to Canon’s complaint filed against the company in the USA.
Following the filing, Ninestar (Ninestar Corporation, Ninestar Image Tech Limited, and Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd) issued the following statement: “We are aware of a new lawsuit that Canon Inc. filed on September 17 with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California while the complaint has not yet served.
“We respect the intellectual property rights of any third party and protect our own innovations through patents. As always, we are confident with and stand proudly behind our proprietary technology.
“Should you have any question, feel free to contact our sales representatives.”
In its complaint, Canon alleges that Ninestar sells toner cartridges that infringe Canon’s U.S. Patent Nos. 9,851,688; 9,857,766; 10,620,582; 10,712,709; and 10,712,710 that are used in various models of Canon and HP laser beam printers. These include printers which accept Canon toner cartridge models 729 and HP toner cartridge models 126A and 130A.
Editor’s Opinion: On the surface this is just another lawsuit that keeps the lawyers busy and gives trade publications and analysts something to write about. But more deeply are we seeing the beginning of an end game for Canon and possibly some other Japanese OEMs? The market is contracting, HP now has its own technology, but needs Canon to defend their IP while they reposition.
The problem is that a lot of OEM IP is maturing and market newcomers are innovating and developing work arounds that could not have been foreseen way back when. Love them or hate them, Ninestar is the emerging player in the market with Lexmark and Pantum and an aftermarket strategy.
