The cover of the December 2015 issue of motio magazine showed Memjet's logo in a shopping cart with HP-logo wheels.
Editor’s Note: This is a translation of an article that appeared in the December issue of motio, the magazine of the German reprographics association. It is published here with the permission of Achim Carius, the German association executive director.
Does Memjet want damages, or to drive up the purchase price?
What is behind Memjet’s attack on HP?
The industry in Europe has never previously experienced anything like this. An American company has blocked another American company – not in America, but here in Germany. On this battlefield, Memjet, an inkjet head manufacturer, delivered a huge blow to its competitor, Hewlett-Packard, in mid November. A temporary injunction has blocked the launch of the new HP PageWide because of alleged patent infringement.
Memjet symbolically selected the city of the German patent office for its surprise coup on German soil. The Munich Court, at Memjet’s behest, in mid November handed down an injunction against Hewlett-Packard Deutschland GmbH in Boblingen with immediate effect. The injunction forbids the advertising, import, and sale of the HP 841 PageWide series.
5 Dealers as Victims
Five German HP PageWide dealers are indirectly affected, because they can no longer be supplied by HP Deutschland. HP should supposedly only communicate with these dealers verbally, to prevent the undesireable forwarding of emails on this controversial topic to third parties. Since Memjet’s motion to enact the temporary injunction evidently did not specifically name the five dealers, they may sell their inventory until it is completely empty.
Formally, only the direct supply from HP-Deutschland is stopped. Some of the dealers have in the meantime sought suppliers in neighboring countries. This supply route is not totally without danger, because it’s possible the five German dealers are also affected by the injunction. Patent law specialist Dr. Johan-Christoph Gaedertz from Frankfurt on Main notes that since the dealers are aware of the injunction, they can’t claim that they didn’t know about it. One can assume also that Memjet will inform them in writing about the alleged patent infringement. At that point, at the latest, the injunction will also apply to them.
A Surprise Blow to HP
For HP, this action was a complete surprise, especially as in the U.S. supposedly a settlement had already been negotiated out of court, according to well-informed industry insiders. The Memjet attack was also a surprise because evidently no previous warning against HP in Germany had been issued. Usually in the German business world, the first step in this type of situation is a warning, which opens the door to a correction. This “fair play” instrument was not chosen in this situation.
The Munich Court Decided Urgently Without HP’s Response
The Munich court found that an infringement of the German part of the European patent 1 292 451, which Memjet owns, was credible. The injunction was issued because of the urgency: “HP is currently entering the German market with this patent-infringing product.”
HP can protest the injunction. HP had not beforehand presented to the court a preventive motion, which at least will come about when they respond.
Memjet Suspects Patent Infringement
Memjet naturally has a different view of the dispute. The San Diego-based company filed a patent infringement case against HP in August 2015. Memjet claimed that HP violated its patent for the “inkjet pagewidth printer for high volume pagewidth printing.” This affects 2D and also 3D systems. The Memjet “waterfall” technology can print the complete width of the paper with one stationary printhead. This is faster than printing with a moving printhead.
Memjet Technology in Canon, RTI/Rigoli, and Xerox Printers
The printhead technology from Memjet is used in the large-format printers form Canon, RTI (Rigoli), and Xerox, the direct competitors of HP. In Germany the Hannover-based dealer Plan.tec, run by Tom Lange, is the most important dealer for the Xerox large-format printers. Remarkably, he is at the same time also a PageWide dealer. Lampe thus sees himself in the comfortable position of dodging the problem. The four other dealers don’t have this strategy open to them.
Memjet is demanding in the lawsuit that HP stop using the technology and furthermore compensate them for damages incurred. Should it be found that HP really violated the patent, it would be a sensational setback for the market introduction of the Multi Jet Fusion 3D printer and PageWide.
Affected Users
The German plot service providers that already use a PageWide printer also may be unsettled. [what follows is a list of those companies]
Motio Stands Behind its Members
“The patent strife between the two American manufacturers Hewlett-Packard and Memjet Technology should not be fought on the backs of the European customers,” was the first reaction of motio-Netzwerkes (the German reprographics association). Numerous online-portals and the trade press published the opinion of the association, which further said: “The industry association for print service providers and print system manufacturers clearly states that the dealers and buyers of HP PageWide large-format printers have been extremely unsettled for several weeks. The court’s ban on advertising, importing and selling threatens further escalation. If Memjet wins in the main procedure, the printhead manufacturer can demand the recall of the PageWide printer. Motio appeals to the two parties in the conflict to settle quickly. The equipment users and dealers cannot be reasonably expected to withstand a long suspension.”