Verdict for Markless Register Control
QuadTech, the worldwide leader and innovator of press
control technology, has been granted a preliminary injunction
against QI Press Controls for infringing QuadTech’s German
patent covering markless register control technology.
In an urgency proceeding, the
Düsseldorf district court
released its decision on
June 17, 2008, deciding that
QI Press Controls cannot market
or otherwise sell its markless
register control system (mRC) in
Germany.
As per press release, QuadTech’s
rights in the German part of
European patent EP 0-598-490 on
markless register control
technology date back to 1992. The
company holds patents for the same
technology in a number of
countries. According to company
president Karl Fritchen, QuadTech
sought the preliminary injunction
to prevent unauthorized use of
technology that QuadTech has
invested substantial time and
money to develop and protect. “To
the extent that others infringe
QuadTech’s intellectual property,
we will evaluate those instances on
a case-by-case basis and act
accordingly to protect our rights
and the innovative products
we bring to the marketplace,”
he said.
While in the official statement to
QuadTech press release, Menno
Jansen, chairman, QI Press Controls,
commented, "Of course, it is a
setback for us not to be able to
promote our latest innovation to the
fullest in the German market and to
deprive this market to benefit from
the advantages the system offers
in markless mode. However, we will
go into appeal to the decision of
the Regional Court Dusseldorf."
The mRC is the only, operational,
fully automatic colour and cut-off
register system for web offset
presses that can use both the
printed image and printed micro
marks as its reference. In case
mRC is running in ‘mark-mode,’ it
will be using the world’s smallest
register marks, which are virtually
invisible by the naked eye.
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