Canon continues to defend its rights, and 11 Chinese companies have been sued!

On April 7, 2021 , the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to initiate two separate 337 investigations into Certain Toner Supply Containers and Components Thereof , coded 337-TA-1259 and 337-TA-1260 .

The cause of the incident can be traced back to March 8 , when Japan's Canon Inc., the United States' Canon USA Inc., and the United States' Canon Virginia, Inc. filed a 337 investigation application with the U.S. ITC, claiming that the products exported to, imported into, and sold in the United States infringed their patent rights , and requested the U.S. ITC to issue a general exclusion order, a limited exclusion order , and a cease and desist order.

In the two 337 investigations, the USITC listed a total of 26 respondents, including 15 American companies and 11 Chinese companies , which are from Guangdong, Sichuan, Anhui and other regions.

The U.S. registered patent numbers involved in the investigation are mainly 10,209,667 , 10,289,060, 10,289,061, 10,295,957, 10,488,814, 10,496,032, 10,496,033, 10,514,654, 10,520,881, 10,520,882, 8,565,649, 9,354,551, and 9,753,402 .

According to the news released on Canon’s official website, it has been continuously submitting infringement reports to various Amazon sites in order to delete listings that infringe on its intellectual property rights.

In January of this year , Canon announced that in the fourth quarter of 2020, it removed 2,792 listings from Amazon's sites in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Turkey .

Data shows that Canon has 3,226 patents , ranking in the top five in the US patent rankings for 35 consecutive years , and ranking first among Japanese companies for 16 consecutive years . With such a large number of patents, the possibility of infringement can be imagined, and sellers of related products should be careful to avoid thunder.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce has released some basic information about the 337 investigation on its official website, from which sellers can also learn more about the 337 investigation↓

According to the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, the U.S. International Trade Commission can initiate investigations and impose sanctions on unfair practices in import trade. Since it is based on Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, such investigations are generally referred to as "337 investigations."

Manufacturers of the products involved (regardless of whether they export the products directly to the United States), importers of the products involved into the United States, or sellers or retailers who sell imported products involved in the United States may become defendants in a 337 investigation.

If the USITC determines through investigation that imported products infringe intellectual property rights in the U.S. market, it has the right to issue limited exclusion orders , general exclusion orders , injunctions , and seizure and confiscation orders.

In fact, many companies have become defendants in Section 337 investigations without knowing it due to a lack of awareness of intellectual property protection . This has also sounded the alarm for sellers in the US market. It is necessary to conduct research on the intellectual property status of similar products in the process of selecting and selling products.

337 Investigation

Canon

Chinese companies