REPEAT-O-TYPE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION

MEDIA NEWS RELEASE

SUPREME COURT QUASHES HEWLETT-PACKARD'S PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT AGAINST REPEAT-O-TYPE

March 24, 1998

Release date: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON - The United States Supreme Court yesterday decided not to hear Hewlett-Packard's appeal of a lower court's ruling that Repeat-O-Type Manufacturing Corporation did not infringe twelve H-P patents by modifying inkjet cartridges so that they could be refilled by end users. The decision ends a grueling five-year battle in which Repeat-O-Type counts itself as just one of the victors. "This decision will translate into reduced printing costs for every inkjet printer owner, regardless of whether they use original or aftermarket products," says Fred Keen, the company's Director of Sales and Marketing. "The high court has affirmed the consumer's right to choose in a competitive market, and competion equals savings," says Keen.

In August, 1997, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling that Repeat-O-Type's sale of modified inkjet cartridges did not infringe on Hewlett-Packard's patents.

In the case which dates back to 1992, Hewlett-Packard had charged that new HP tri-color inkjet cartridges which were purchased by Repeat-O-Type, modified so that they can be refilled, and then sold along with Repeat-O-Type refill inks in Repeat-O-Type branded packaging infringed patents held by HP. Similar charges were made regarding a series of Repeat-O-Type products which included a new HP black inkjet cartridge from which the ink was purged and replaced with Repeat-O-Type's colored ink.

At the core of Repeat-O-Type's defense was the assertion that once having lawfully and unconditionally purchased the Hewlett-Packard cartridges, HP's patent rights had become exhausted and Repeat-O-Type was entitled to perform repairs on property that it owned. Hewlett-Packard had argued that Repeat-O-Type was engaging in "impermissible reconstruction" rather than "permissible repair". The court ruled, however, that impermissible reconstruction did not take place, because the cartridges were new and had not been "spent".

The full text of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling is available on the internet at http://repeatotype.com/documents/96-1379_doc.html.

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Repeat-O-Type Manufacturing Corp. is a family owned corporation that has been engaged in the manufacture of office reprographic products since 1931.

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Press Contact:

Edward F. O'Connor, Esq.
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly
1920 Main Street, Suite 1050
Irvine, CA 92714
(714) 263-8250

For Further Information Contact:

Fred Keen, Director of Sales and Marketing
REPEAT-O-TYPE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION
665 State Highway 23
Wayne, New Jersey 07470-6892
Phone: (973) 696-3330 or toll free (US and Canada) (800) 288-3330
Fax: (973) 694-7287
e-mail: pr@repeatotype.com
URL: http://repeatotype.com

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