Sunday, May 4, 2014

Xerox, U.S. Ethernet Innovations End IP Suit over Printers

Case Filed: Apr 02, 2012

Case Closed:  Apr 25, 2014

Court: Texas Eastern District Court

Judge: Michael H. Schneider

Case Summary:
Tyler, Texas-based U.S. Ethernet Innovations (USEI), a company  holding fundamental Ethernet technology patents filed a complaint against Xerox Corporation accusing them of infringing two U.S. patents. 

The patents are: US5434872 reading ‘Apparatus for automatic initiation of data transmission’ and US5732094 reading ’Method for automatic initiation of data transmission’. The patents were duly issued by USPTO on Jul 18, 1995 and Mar 24, 1998, respectively. The patents expired[i] by Jul 28, 2012 and were last assigned[ii] to HLC Sentinel (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database.) According to the complaint, USEI is the owner of the ’094 and ‘872 patents.

The complaint alleged that defendant has made, used, imported, and/or sold and/or continues to make, use, import, and/or sell the technology claimed by the ‘094 and ‘872 patents in systems and methods without USEI’s permission. The accused product cited in the court documents was ‘Xerox Phaser 3000’ series of network printers employing Ethernet technology, embodied in one or more claims of the patents-in-suit.

The complaint further added that the acts of infringement by Xerox were willful and deliberate, which caused irreparable harm and damage to USEI. As a result, USEI demanded increased damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Pursuant to the joint motion of dismissal filed by USEI and Xerox, the Court entered final judgment. The official ruling stated that the parties take nothing and each party will bear their own costs. It further ordered all claims by USEI and Xerox dismissed with prejudice.
See 6:12-cv-00237 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

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[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.
[ii] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

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