Epson has announced that Epson America Inc., Epson Portland Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. filed two patent infringement complaints on April 10 and 11, 2023 against Creek Manufacturing LLC and Service Watch Systems, LLC, Planet Green Cartridges Inc. and Image Armor LLC, I-Group Technologies LLC. The complaints allege infringement of claims from U.S. Patent No. 8,454,116. These patent claims were adjudicated in well-publicized actions filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), resulting in a General Exclusion Order barring the importation of all newly built and remanufactured cartridges that infringe the claims.

These two lawsuits underscore Epson's continuing enforcement efforts including against infringing sellers of remanufactured large format printer cartridges and consumer cartridges using third-party infringing circuit boards. Epson's concerted campaign is focused on protecting Epson's intellectual property and ensuring that legitimate resellers can compete fairly for sales of supplies for Epson printers.

Epson has a long history of vigorous legal action to protect the company, consumers and legitimate resellers from unfair competition. These two recent lawsuits supplement Epson's earlier enforcement efforts by seeking permanent injunctions against further infringements, as well as monetary damages, for extensive sales of patent-infringing cartridges.

Epson's enforcement program includes a broad range of efforts to address patent and trademark infringement throughout the distribution and sales channels, from obtaining General Exclusion Orders through the ITC, to raids and seizures of counterfeit product and regular enforcement through online marketplaces such as Alibaba, Amazon and eBay.

"We are encouraged that Epson's enforcement programs have resulted in increased compliance on top internet marketplaces and have significantly altered the landscape for infringing cartridge sales," said Jilana Miller, assistant general counsel, Epson America. "However, we continue to address the persistent culture of infringement and unfair competition perpetrated on Internet marketplaces and through other channels. These recent complaints demonstrate Epson's continued commitment to addressing infringement in the commercial and consumer markets, and the problem of remanufactured cartridges which infringe intellectual property rights and impact fair competition."