Intellectual Ventures Sues Canon and Ricoh Alleging Patent Infringement

Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, Washington patent licensing firm, accused Canon and Ricoh of selling printers and MFPs that infringe its patents, in separate lawsuits filed before the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on March 25.

IV said on its website, “A fair price must be paid for use of a patented invention. As a result of the unlicensed use of our patents, IV filed infringement complaints against Canon and Ricoh. This is our second suit against Canon and our first against Ricoh. We have attempted to engage in licensing discussions with both companies, but our efforts to do a business deal with either of these companies have not been fruitful.”

The plaintiff complains that Canon’s imageRUNNER ADVANCE series infringes the 5,444,728 and 6,435,686 patents. Canon’s imageCLASS devices, such as the MF4890dw, infringe the 6,130,761 patent. Canon’s PIXMA inkjets with scanning capabilities, such as the MG6220, infringe the 6,650,432 and RE43,086 patents, and PIXMA units with Wi-Fi, including the MX882 and MX870, infringe the 5,712,870, 6,784,195 and 6,977,944 patents. Also, Canon’s CanoScan series scanners infringe the 7,315,406 patent.

In the suit against Ricoh, IV claims that: the Aficio MP171 infringes the ‘728 patent; the Aficio MP201SPF infringes the ‘761 patent; the Aficio MP 5000B infringes the ‘686 patent; the Aficio SP 1200SF infringes the ‘086 patent; and the Aficio SG 3110DNw infringes the ‘870, ‘195 and ‘944 patents.

IV is requesting the court declare that Canon and Ricoh have each either directly infringed, or induced infringement of the aforesaid patents. In addition, it is seeking damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses for the case to be paid by the defendants.

According to Actionable Intelligence, IV is not seeking a permanent injunction against either Canon or Ricoh. Its main goal would be forcing the two companies to either license its technology or pay damages.