Printer manufacturers want to prevent refilling of cartridges

In the near future, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the arguments in the patent litigation, Impression Products Inc. v. Lexmark International Inc. Unlike most patent cases, Lexmark. directly affects the daily lives of almost all Americans. It requires the court to answer a simple question with profound implications. Does the patent holder have the right to decide how to use the product after purchasing it? Printer manufacturers want to prevent the refilling of cartridges, do they have the right?

 

Does the owner of the patent have the right to a product already sold?

Maybe you don’t know, many of the products you use every day (from phones and cars to toothbrushes and medicines) have been patented. Because of a key legal restriction called “exhaustion”, these patents are fundamentally invisible to the average consumer. Exhaustion means that you own the product when you buy it, even if the product is patented. Therefore, the patent holder does not determine your right to operate on the product. You can use, give, resell, or repair the product as you wish. The patent owner has no say in that.ujet.

 

Action taken by Lexmark

Of course, patentees like Lexmark are not willing to give up that control. Lexmark markets printers. But more importantly, it markets ink cartridges. Anyone with a home printer can attest that the cost of replacing the ink can quickly exceed the cost of a new printer. Consumers buy cheap ink in bulk to fill their ink cartridges, this frustrated Lexmark who tries to use patent law to create something similar to customer loyalty.

 

Other strategies of restriction

That’s not the only strategy. We see this when mobile companies lock in their customers’ devices to prevent them from switching to competing networks. We see that when auto manufacturers, electronics manufacturers and even tractor manufacturers try to crack down on independent repair shops. Usually these efforts are based on software locks, which restrict the way customers can use or repair purchased products.

Imagine if Toyota sold you a car, but after it was repaired by an independent mechanic, it sues you for patent infringement.

Lexmark’s initial approach

The company claimed that the use of replacement ink cartridges violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, thereby circumventing the software’s lock-in. But the United States Court of Appeal for the sixth circuit held that this statement was a distortion of copyright and was intended to prevent competition.

As a result, Lexmark returned to square one. Its next strategy is to use patents on cartridges to reduce their manipulation by consumers. Lexmark began selling cartridges with packaging notices and insisted that the cartridge cannot be reused or transferred to a third party. According to the company, anyone who refills or resells these cartridges is a patent infringer, even if they own them.

 

Decision of the Court

So far, the Court has reached a consensus. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeal, which hears all patent appeals, has adopted the idea that companies like Lexmark can set rules for the use of the equipment sold to you over time. You must comply with these restrictions based on the reasoning of the court. Thus, as long as the patentee issues a notice of restriction.

The Supreme Court should reject the acquisition. This is inconsistent with the jurisprudence of a century and a half, in which the court has always held that companies should not use patent law to restrict use. This is the case for the transfer of products after authorized sales. In addition, allowing patent holders to replace simple ownership rules with restrictions that best align with their financial goals will result in enormous costs to the public.

Rather than relying on established ownership rules, the purchase of each consumer requires diligent and lengthy investigations. Can the ink cartridge be recharged? How many times? Can it be transferred? Under what conditions is it supplied to whom?

 

Printer manufacturers want to prevent cartridge refills
Do you have questions, comments or solutions?
Speak up!