Court decides in favor of HP in trademark-infringement cases; HP continues efforts to defend trademarks and protect customers from fraud.PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 1997-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced that it has received favorable outcomes in two recent trademark-infringement cases involving the sale of remanufactured toner An electrically charged ink used in copy machines and laser printers. It adheres to an invisible image that has been charged with the opposite polarity onto a plate or drum or onto the paper itself. cartridges as new HP brand toner cartridges. The companies, Supreme Office Products and OPG OPG Ontario Power Generation (Canada) OPG Osteoprotegerin OPG Online Policy Group OPG Oldroyd Publishing Group (UK) OPG Orthopantomography OPG Office of Projects and Grants Industries Inc., were sued by HP as part of HP's effort to prosecute companies that compromise the HP brand and associated trademarks. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found Supreme Office Products in violation of a previous court order that barred them from advertising, selling, representing or describing remanufactured toner cartridges as new HP brand toner cartridges. The court rendered a decision after hearing testimony from customers of Supreme Office Products and after reviewing physical evidence collected by HP. "We thought that we were purchasing genuine HP toner cartridges," said Michelle Parker of Parker, Zarkowski & Co. CPAs, P.C. "The cartridges lasted only 1,500 printouts, about a quarter of what I was used to. It ended up costing me many hours of downtime The time during which a computer is not functioning due to hardware, operating system or application program failure. during tax season, the busiest time of year for us." In a similar case before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , HP reached a consent judgment with OPG Industries Inc. The settlement bars OPG from advertising, promoting, selling or offering for sale used, remanufactured or refilled toner cartridges as new, genuine HP toner cartridges. The settlement also requires that OPG not use any mark, symbol or name that would falsely suggest, lead or be likely to lead consumers to mistakenly believe that products were new or genuine HP toner cartridges. HP has obtained permanent injunctions permanent injunction n. a final order of a court that a person or entity refrain from certain activities permanently or take certain actions (usually to correct a nuisance) until completed. in several similar cases over the past year. Defendants, including resellers, distributors and box and label manufacturers, have been permanently enjoined and restrained from making, advertising, promoting, or distributing products, services, labels, packaging or products bearing any of the following HP trademarks: 74A, 75A, 85A, 91A, 95A, 95M, 98A, the HP name, the initials "HP" and the HP logo. "Our customers count on HP for quality and reliability, without question," said Neal J. Martini, general manager of HP's Color LaserJet Consumables Division in Boise, Idaho “Boise” redirects here. For other uses, see Boise (disambiguation). Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the county seat of Ada County and the principal city of the Boise metropolitan area. . "Companies need to know that we will vigorously defend our customers' trust in HP quality and reliability by prosecuting those that willfully willfully adv. referring to doing something intentionally, purposefully and stubbornly. Examples: "He drove the car willfully into the crowd on the sidewalk." "She willfully left the dangerous substances on the property." (See: willful) deceive TO DECEIVE. To induce another either by words or actions, to take that for true which is not so. Wolff, Inst. Nat. Sec. 356. our customers and compromise the equity of the HP brand and associated trademarks." HP asks that anyone suspecting fraudulent activity call 208/333-3988. Additional information about HP supplies can be found at the following Web address: www.hp.com/go/ljsupplies . ABOUT HP Hewlett-Packard Company is the official information-technology hardware and maintenance supplier to the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament. HP is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 114,600 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com . CONTACT: Hewlett-Packard Company Doug Cole, 208/396-2515 doug_cole@hp.com or Copithorne & Bellows bellows, expansible, gas-tight chamber used to pump or store a gas. One of the simplest and most familiar types of bellows is the manual one used for providing a forced draft to a fire. The expansible chamber consists of a leather bag with pleated sides. Michael Lattig, 408/988-2100 michael.lattig@cbpr.com |
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