HP announced today that Germany-based Pelikan Hardcopy Deutschland GmbH was found to be in violation of the German law on unfair competition by the Cologne Regional Court, Germany. In a judgment issued in July and finalized earlier this month, the court ordered Pelikan to cease labeling certain newly manufactured inkjet print cartridges as "remanufactured."
HP initiated this unfair competition action against Pelikan last summer after Pelikan refused HP"s request to voluntarily give an undertaking to cease its misleading advertising. HP had discovered that Pelikan marketed and sold new print cartridges in packaging that claimed the new cartridges were remanufactured products. In the recent judgment, the court agreed with HP and took the view that Pelikan"s labeling was misleading to customers.