Canon Announces The Issuance Of General Exclusion Order By U.S. ITC

(RTTNews) - Canon Inc. (CAJ) said Wednesday that the U.S. International Trade Commission has issued a General Exclusion Order in an investigation pertaining to certain toner cartridges and their photosensitive drums sold for use in Canon and Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ) laser beam printers.

The General Exclusion Order prohibits from entry into the U.S. toner cartridges and their components that infringe certain specified claims of Canon's U.S. Patent Nos. 5,903,803 and 6,128,454 for the lives of those patents, irrespective of the source of the products. The specified claims include both claims directed to toner cartridges and claims directed to photosensitive drums.

The ITC also issued cease and desist orders against many of the respondents named in the investigation, prohibiting the sale of infringing toner cartridges and their components that have already been imported into the U.S. Canon filed the complaint that led to the subject investigation on January 23, 2012, naming 34 respondents, including manufacturers, importers and distributors of toner cartridges and photosensitive drums. On February 28, 2013, the Administrative Law Judge presiding over the investigation determined that Canon had proven violations of its patent rights, and the ITC adopted those findings on April 17, 2013.