HP prevails in Munich in toner cartridge dispute against Ninestar

In a series of lawsuits concerning various patents, Hewlett Packard Development is taking action at Munich Regional Court against several European and Chinese companies of the Ninestar Group. They all sell printer cartridges on platforms such as Amazon. According to HP, these cartridges infringe HP’s patents.

After the court imposed a sales ban on CaiLuo last summer, it has now prohibited Chinese parent company Ninestar Corporation as well as four of its subsidiaries from marketing certain cartridges in Germany.

Five defendants

HP sued Ninestar and its entities Seine Holland, G&G, Zhuhai Ninestar Information Technology, and Ninestar Image Tech for infringement of EP 3 530 470. The patent concerns mechanical and electrical features of ink cartridges, especially rebuilt HP 963XL cartridges originally placed on the market outside Europe — mainly the US and Canada.

While the European distributors Seine Holland and G&G largely acknowledged the infringement claims, the Chinese defendants argued that they had committed no acts of infringement in Germany and that a mere corporate affiliation was insufficient for liability.

The 21st Civil Chamber of the Munich Regional Court found the defendants had infringed EP 470. The panel around presiding judge Hubertus Schacht, including judges Sebastian Benz and Julia Obermeier, also adopted an expansive approach to group liability. The court ruled that the foreign group entities and even the parent company could be held liable, based on sufficient indications brought by the claimant that the corporation has a kind of organisational control over the group’s global remanufacturing business (case ID: 21 O 3846/25). The judgment is enforceable upon payment of a security deposit.

Appeals pending

Hewlett Packard also brought four patent infringement suits against CaiLuo Technology, at Munich Regional Court regarding EP 2 335 120, EP 3 530 470, EP 3 688 602, and EP 3 183 121.

As is the case with Seine Holland and G&G, CaiLuo largely acknowledged the plaintiff’s claims in the cases of EP 470 and EP 602. The case is over. In the dispute over EP 120, the Munich judges imposed a sales ban last summer. An appeal is pending.

Regarding EP 121, the court dismissed the action at first instance. HP appealed the decision (case ID: 6 U 2238/25 e). Meanwhile, the German Federal Patent Court upheld EP 121 in the parallel nullity suit (case ID: 6 Ni 20/24).

UPC grants PI

Additionally, HP had taken action regarding printer cartridges against other Chinese companies by the name of Ouguan Electronic Technology and Shenzhen Moan Technology, as well as a German distributor Andreas Rentmeister, at the UPC. The patents-in-suit EP 2 826 630, EP 3 530 469 and EP 3 835 965 originate from the same patent families as those in the Munich Regional Court proceedings. The patent owner claims these are infringed by successor models of the printer cartridges challenged at the national court.

Rentmeister ultimately did not continue defending the case and settled. The formal service in China effectively failed. Finding that sufficient steps had been taken to notify the Chinese defendants, Düsseldorf local division granted HP a preliminary injunction, prohibiting sales in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Sweden (case IDs: CFI_449/2025 and CFI_515/2025).

Freshfields for HP

Hewlett Packard instructed a team from Freshfields for all the actions at Munich Regional Court as well as the UPC. Corin Gittinger of the Berlin office, who the firm recently promoted to partner, led the case. The associates Henning Gutheil, Vanessa Werlin, Emma Kleinvogel, and Richard Wunderlich assisted.

Patent attorney firm Samson & Partner provided advice on technical matters. The team led by partner Wolfgang Lippich also included Ludwig Alexander von Poswik and Martin Jankovec. In the case against CaiLuo, patent attorneys of Boehmert & Boehmert had played a role.

Ninestar and all its subsidiaries and distribution partners relied on CBH Rechtsanwälte. Litigators Paul Szynka and Hannes Jacobsen led the case for the defendants. As in the case for CaiLuo, the team cooperated with patent attorney Katja Dauster of Ruff, Wilhelm, Beier, Dauster & Partner on technical matters.

In the parallel UPC proceedings, Jochen Bühling of Krieger Mes acted for Andreas Rentmeister.