The Recycler Issue 331

WORLD FOCUS
GLOBAL Canon, ITC Ruling, Amazon Removals
Canon v ITC: Aftermarket wins….for now
In a summary ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the earlier decision
of the ITC in an appeal brought by Canon.
The appeal by Canon was against an
appeal from the United States International
Trade Commission in Investigation No.
337-TA-1106 where Aster Graphics,
Ninestar Corporation, Static Control
Components and Print-Rite were accused
of infringing a number of its patents.
The judgement issued in April said that in
the appeal the judges had AFFIRMED. See
Fed. Cir. R. 36.
What does that mean? According to
Federal Circuit Rules, a Rule 36 judgment
means the ITC position was so clear, the
Court had determined it was not necessary
to issue a formal opinion.
A Rule 36 judgment can be entered
without opinion when it is determined by
the panel that any one of five conditions
exist and a written opinion would not have
precedential value. The five conditions are:
• The judgment, decision, or order of the
trial court appealed from is based on
findings that are not clearly erroneous.
• The evidence supporting the jury’s verdict
is sufficient.
• The record supports summary judgment,
directed verdict, or judgment on the
pleadings.
• The decision of an administrative agency
warrants affirmance under the standard
of review in the statute authorizing the
petition for review.
• A judgment or decision has been entered
without an error of law.
Shortly after the judgement was passed,
Canon said in a statement that it continues
to believe that the ITC's interpretation of
the patent claims is overly narrow and is
considering available options for seeking
review of the Federal Circuit's decision.
Canon added that it maintains a wide
array of intellectual property rights relating
to its toner cartridge technology and will
continue to enforce those rights against
manufacturers and sellers of infringing
products.
Due to COVID-19 office closures, we
have not had many Amazon removal
requests recently but latest announcements
included the requests of removal of
toner cartridge offered by StarTech
Office Supplies from Amazon.ca,
NEWYORKTONER from Amazon.com
and yangquanshi chengquliupingshangdian
via Amazon German, Italy and Spain.
Canon Inc. announced the filing of an
infringement report with Amazon.ca
seeking removal of an Amazon.ca listing
for certain toner cartridges sold by StarTech
Office Supplies.
Canon's infringement report alleged that
certain model CF210X, CF210A, CF211A,
CF212A, CF213A, CC530A, CC531A,
CC532A, CC533A, CE410X, CE410A,
CE411A, CE412A, CE413A, CF380X,
CF380A, CF381A, CF382A and CF383A
toner cartridges sold by StarTech Office
Supplies via Amazon.ca infringed Canon's
Canadian Patent no. 2,635,791.
Canon requested the removal of
the corresponding listings for these
products, having Amazon Standard
Identification Numbers B01AUPLZVC,
B01AUPM0QG, B01AUPM1E2,
B07S42BXMB, B075ZVY7JX,
B015FMWGYU, B072C3Y35G,
B01AUPLZTE, B01AUPLX96,
B01NB0Z9SL, B01EV13FWI,
B01FVE0B26, B07BN9J19X,
B01HNZIYF2, B07C34M65T,
B010ENVA3I, B010ENVJLQ,
B07KZT1WXQ, B076F4MM4B,
B07NNW589W, B01JG241MA,
B01EY5TAB6, B01EWL517O and
B01EY606RC.
At the time of this announcement,
products sold under the above-identified
listings were no longer available on
Amazon.ca.
Canon also announced the filing of
an infringement report with Amazon.
com seeking removal of Amazon.com
listings for certain toner cartridges sold by
NEWYORKTONER for use in HP laser
beam printers.
Canon's infringement report alleged
that certain model CE410A, CE411A,
CE412A and CE413A toner cartridges
sold by NEWYORKTONER via Amazon.
com infringed Canon's U.S. Patent
No. 8,588,646. Canon requested that
Amazon remove NEWYORKTONER's
listings for those products, namely,
NEWYORKTONER's listings with
Amazon Standard Identification Numbers
("ASINs") B012YVKT26, B012YS1GLM,
B012YSA758, B012YXCDPK,
B012YS6P2C, B012YSYLBE,
B012YTWBBA, B012YUB65G and
B012YWJMHS.
At the time of this announcement, the
above-identified NEWYORKTONER
listings were no longer available on
Amazon.com.
Also announced were the filing of
Report Infringement Forms with Amazon.
de, Amazon.it and Amazon.es based on
the alleged use of claims 1 and 2 of the
German, Italian and Spanish portions of
Canon's European Patent EP 1 977 289
("EP '289") regarding certain models of
toner cartridges offered by yangquanshi
chengquliupingshangdian Limited under
the following ASINs (Amazon Standard
Identification Numbers - see table below).
Country Cartridge models ASIN
Germany CC530A, CC531A, CC532A, CC533A B07V3SRKLS
Italy CC530A, CC531A, CC532A, CC533A B07V3SRKLS
Spain CC530A, CC531A, CC532A, CC533A B07V3SRKLS
Afterwards, Amazon took down the
respective products. These products are
compatible with the OEM HP cartridge
models and provide inter alia a non-OEM
housing and a non-OEM force receiving
device according to claim 1 of EP '289.
Furthermore, they comprise an elastic
portion according to claim 2 of EP '289.
Filing a Report Infringement Form with
Amazon is a service offered by Amazon
and doesn't comprise any official finding
of validity or infringement of a patent.
The decision to take down a product is in
the discretion of Amazon and is based on
information provided by Canon. Amazon
informed the vendor about the takedown
and the vendor may object to it. ■
18 Issue 331 June 2020