Canon Wins Suit

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has denied a request made by SymQuest Group, Inc. (SymQuest), a former authorized Canon retail dealer.

SymQuest, which markets business equipment on the US east coast was acquired in June 2015 by Canon U.S.A.’s competitor, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. (Konica Minolta).

Canon U.S.A (Canon) claims it terminated SymQuest’s authorized retail dealership according to its contractual right. So SymQuest responded by filing a lawsuit against Canon in the federal court in July 2015, asserting “by ceasing its post-termination sales and service support to SymQuest, Canon U.S.A. violated the terms of the parties’ retail dealer agreement and wrongfully interfered with SymQuest’s ability to service its customers’ machines.”. Furthermore, the plaintiff requested an injunction from the court and the respondent to continue providing SymQuest with spare parts, consumable supplies and technical support.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen I. Locke, believed that the dealer agreement was in “clear and unambiguous” terms, and justified Canon’s right to finish its business relationship with SymQuest, which had been adopted by U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler. The federal court ruled that SymQuest failed to “make a clear showing that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm” and that “[t]here is not a likelihood of success on any of [SymQuest’s] claims.” Thus, the court denied SymQuest’s request, permitting Canon’s right not to provide spare parts, consumable supplies and technical support to terminated retail dealers acquired by its competitors.

Seymour Liebman, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer of Canon U.S.A., commented, “We are gratified that the court has upheld our contractual right to terminate sales and service support to retail dealers that have been acquired by a competitor.”

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