The company has confirmed that it has terminated its involvement in the ITC investigation, but confirms that the litigation between Static Control and Canon will continue in the US Federal Court.
Static Control Components, Inc. (Static Control) has announced its decision to terminate their involvement in ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-1259 regarding certain toner supply containers that was filed by Canon in March this year. Static control was one 26 companies accused of infringing one or more of their imageRUNNER patents. The News Team has the story here.
Static Control said in their announcement “As the courts have unfailingly agreed in the past, Static Control does not believe it infringes any valid, enforceable patents, including the patents at issue in this case. Static Control recognizes the importance of intellectual property to all companies that develop and sell imaging products. However, given the limited volume of these products and our other solutions for the market, Static Control has chosen to not continue the current litigation in the ITC. Static Control remains a staunch advocate for the aftermarket and the litigation between Static Control and Canon involving these products will continue in the US Federal Court.
Update: Since posting the story, Ninestar have also announced the company has terminated its involvement i nthe ITC investigation.
Our take on this story: For Static Control and Ninestar the decision makes sense because the limited volume of products and our other solutions they have in the market. However, the image runner series is Canon’s bread and butter copier range, and the aftermarket is eating into that segment. This looks more and more like a battle between two OEMs (Canon and Xerox) that is being fought through the 26 (now 24) proxies. All because Xerox launched their everyday range of consumables, some of which are produced by one or more companies featured in the current list of complainants. It is risk for Canon and the stakes are high as this complaint winds its way through the system.
This story was updated at 13.35 on the 15th June 2021 with inclusion of Ninestar in the headline and body of the story and our opinion was amended to include Ninestar.
