EFI has announced victory in a patent lawsuit brought by Jose Vicente Tomas Claramonte, the president of KERAjet, S.A., involving EFI Cretaprint's ceramic digital inkjet printing systems.
Mr. Tomas Claramonte had claimed that EFI Cretaprint infringed his patent—a claim the Commercial Court in Valencia rejected earlier this year. That court ruled that the infringement claims were meritless and that the patent is invalid because it lacks an inventive step.
Now, a Spanish appeals court has rejected Mr. Tomas Claramonte’s claims, as well. On July 15, 2013, the Provincial Court of Valencia affirmed the lower court’s decision, rejecting Mr. Tomas Claramonte’s appeal and, importantly, confirming that the patent is null and void as it relates to EFI Cretaprint.
“The Provincial Court has confirmed what we believed all along—that this lawsuit was baseless and that Mr. Tomas Claramonte’s patent is invalid,” said EFI’s General Counsel Bryan Ko. “We now look forward to decisions from the German and Italian courts in lawsuits filed by EFI, and expect the patent will be invalidated in those countries, too.”
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