Fujifilm wins patent infringement battle

The OEM is celebrating a successful outcome to the lawsuit filed against Nazdar, and its German distributor Zaro.

In 2017, Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems Ltd (FSIS) filed a suit against Nazdar Co., US and Nazdar Limited, UK, as well as its German distributor Zaro GmbH, before the Regional Court in Düsseldorf. FSIS claimed Nazdar had infringed its UV ink patents EP 1 803 784 B3 and EP 2 383 314 B3 in Germany, by offering its 702 & 703 Series UV inkjet inks and declaring them to be chemically compatible with the original inks designed for Fujifilm’s Acuity range of flatbed UV printers.

The patents on these inks protect specific inkjet ink compositions providing a range of properties including “improved flexibility, jetting performance and adhesion.”

In reaction to the infringement actions, Nazdar filed nullity actions against the patents in Germany before the German Federal Patents Court and asked the Regional Court in Düsseldorf to stay the infringement proceedings. Furthermore, Nazdar contested the infringement, but did also, in reaction to FSIS’ patent claims, change the chemical composition of its UV inkjet inks. However, despite redesigning the inks, Nazdar continued to market its UV inkjet inks as 702 & 703 Series and failed to indicate to customers the change in chemical composition in a way that FSIS considered necessary to avoid patent infringement.

The Regional Court in Düsseldorf has now backed Fujifilm in the dispute, confirming infringement on the part of Nazdar and enjoining Nazdar and Zaro from offering or bringing to market, or any further use of, patent infringing UV inkjet inks. It has also sentenced them to pay damages and render account. The Court also approved FSIS’s position that the change in chemical composition of the 702 & 703 Series is not sufficient to avoid infringement because Nazdar continues to market their UV inkjets inks as 702 & 703 Series without sufficient indication of the product change.

Without prejudice of the nullity proceedings at the Federal Patents Court in Munich, the Regional Court in Düsseldorf did not follow Nazdar’s invalidity arguments and therefore also rejected the stay motion.

Nazdar and Zaro have filed appeals against the judgements. Irrespectively, the judgements remain provisionally enforceable under the condition that FSIS will provide sufficient enforcement security. A date for the appeal hearing has been set for 7 November 2019. A date for a hearing in the nullity proceedings has not yet been set.

Commenting on the ruling, FSIS’ R&D Director Rob Fassam said: “I am delighted that the Regional Court in Düsseldorf has ruled in our favour. We invest significant time and resource developing new and exciting technology that benefits the inkjet industry.”

“This sends a clear message to anyone thinking of infringing our intellectual property,” Fassam continued. “We will continue to protect our investment by filing patents that cover our technology and we will take appropriate action against those who infringe.”

Katun Europe Introduces Toners For Use In Ricoh And HP Applications

Katun® Corporation, one of the world’s leading alternative suppliers to the office equipment industry, is pleased to announce the introduction of a range of new products, including colour toners for use in HP printers, as well as a monochrome toners for Ricoh machines.

The Katun Performance™ color toner set for use in HP Color LJ Enterprise M553 applications enables dealers to reduce their supplies costs without sacrificing image quality or performance. These toners provide OEM-equivalent print quality and yields, plus outstanding color reproduction and performance.

Katun Performance monochrome toner for use in Ricoh SP 3600 / SP 4510 / MP 401-series applications provides reliable, OEM-equivalent performance and cost savings. This toner represents another high-quality product in a broad range of products that Katun offers for Ricoh machines.

Katun products may be ordered by phone, fax or email, or via the Katun Online Catalogue – the one-stop Internet resource that allows registered customers to locate and order thousands of Katun products while viewing real-time information about their orders and accounts. Customers can access the Katun Online Catalogue, or find Katun customer service contact information, at www.katun.com/eu/.

Konica Minolta – Notice regarding recording of valuation loss on shares of affiliate

Konica Minolta, Inc. (the “Company”) announces that it anticipates to record a loss on shares of its affiliated company in the separate financial closing for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019), as follows:

1. Details of the recording of a valuation loss

The Company owns 65.5% shares of MOBOTIX AG (listed on the Entry Standard Market of Frankfurt Stock Exchange, “MOBOTIX”), a German manufacture of IP video surveillance cameras and video management software. As a result of a decline in MOBOTIX’s stock price, the Company will record a loss on MOBOTIX’s shares held in the separate financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019.

2. Amount of impacts on profit and loss of the Company resulting from the recording of a valuation loss

The Company will record 12.6 billion yen of valuation loss on shares of affiliates as an extraordinary loss for MOBOTIX’s shares held in the separate financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019.
The valuation loss on shares of affiliates to be recorded has no effect on the consolidated results of operations because MOBITIX is a consolidated subsidiary of the Company and the loss will be eliminated in the consolidated financial closing.

Mopria Alliance Announces Share to Print Capability for Microsoft Office Files

The Mopria® Alliance, a global non-profit membership organization providing universal standards and solutions for print and scan, today announced the latest release of the Mopria Print Service, version 2.8, allowing users to easily print Microsoft® Office format documents, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, by using the app’s popular “share to print” feature.

The expanded feature benefits frequent users of mobile email, file browser and file sharing applications, which play an important role in the mobile workplace. With this added capability, users can “share to print” to send a document directly to a printer, without having to open the document in a proprietary or operating system specific viewing application. This is especially useful for preserving the original format of the document, which could otherwise be altered when opened in a third-party app.

This update expands on the current “share to print” functionality found in the Mopria Print Service providing mobile print capabilities for many commonly used file types, including PDFs, web pages, image files and more. By adding “share to print” support for Microsoft Office documents, Mopria Print Service enables enterprise users to print high quality files without having to install large productivity apps on mobile devices.

“The ability to print professional looking documents on the fly, directly from a mobile device, is an important feature for enterprise users,” said Greg Kuziej, Chairman of the Board at the Mopria Alliance. “Today, many enterprise mobility management solutions don’t always support an easy way to directly print email attachments or to print right from a file sharing service or file browser on a mobile device. Share to print changes that.”

To add “share to print” functionality with Microsoft Office files, Mopria Print Service 2.8 users will be prompted to complete a one-time download of the DirectOffice for Mopria app from the Google Play store.

DirectOffice for Mopria is an official, distraction-free extension app developed by Qualcomm®, a Board Member of the Mopria Alliance. Mopria Print Service can be installed on all Android devices and can be downloaded from Google Play or directly from the official Mopria Alliance website.

The Mopria Alliance was founded by Canon, HP, Samsung and Xerox, and the nonprofit membership organization has since grown to 21 members, representing the worldwide print and scan business. In addition to the founding companies, the Mopria Alliance today includes Adobe, Brother, Epson, Fuji Xerox, Huawei, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Microsoft, OKI Data, Pantum, Primax, Qualcomm, Ricoh, Sharp, Toshiba and YSoft.