Brother Industries. Ltd. announced the concluding settlement of a patent dispute with a distributor of toner and drum cartridges in Germany, after receiving substantial damage compensation.
The supplier had distributed a wide range of toner and drum cartridges that implemented patented technology of Brother, and had acknowledged it before the infringement action was filed.
The judgement issued in 2016 prohibits 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. Moreover, it established the obligation of the distributor to compensate damage and ordered it to disclose information.
After reimbursing costs and disclosed names of supplier and commercial customers and sales figures, Brother and the distributor have now arrived at an agreement on remaining claims.
“Brother is very pleased with this outcome.” Tadashi Ishiguro, Representative Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer of Brother, comments, “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.”
