Brother Concludes Settlement of Patent Dispute with Distributor of Toner and Drum Cartridges in Germany
June 29, 2017
Brother Industries, Ltd.
Brother Industries. Ltd. (Brother Kogyo K. K. "Brother"), one of the world's leading manufacturers of printing equipment, announces that it concluded the settlement of a patent dispute with a distributor of toner and drum cartridges in Germany. Having been successful in an infringement action on the merits already in 2016, Brother now received substantial damage compensation.
Before the infringement action was filed, the distributor had distributed a broad range of toner and drum cartridges, all of which implemented patented technology of Brother, in Germany. After due consideration, it decided not to defend against the claims asserted in the infringement action but to acknowledge them prior to the upcoming hearing before court.
The judgment issued on the basis of this acknowledgment already in 2016 does not only prohibit the distributor to offer, put on the market or use the toner and drum cartridges in dispute in Germany, or to import them into Germany or possess them in Germany for said purposes. It also established the distributor's obligation to compensate damages, and ordered it to disclose information on the origin and chain of distribution as well as on the scope of the infringement, and to recall from commercial customers and destroy the toner and drum cartridges in dispute being in its possession. Last but not least, the judgment imposed the statutory costs of a previous warning letter and of the infringement action itself on the distributor.
In compliance with the judgment, the distributor reimbursed costs and disclosed names of supplier and commercial customers as well as comprehensive sales figures. Following that, the parties now came to an agreement relating to the remaining claims.
Tadashi Ishiguro, Representative Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer of Brother comments: "Brother is very pleased with this outcome. Once again, it shows that we have strong IP rights, the infringement of which does not pay. We will continue to take appropriate action against any such infringement whenever necessary."
