Epson has announced that a US federal judge has issued a summary judgment ruling in a patent infringement lawsuit against Multi-Union Trading of Hong Kong that decisively holds that the defendant's ink cartridges infringe upon Epson's patents. Epson America, Epson Portland and Seiko Epson brought the lawsuit.

The court found that 23 models of cartridges sold by Multi-Union for use in Epson printers infringe upon Epson's principal patents.

The lawsuit is now scheduled to go to trial in September 2005 on some defenses asserted by Multi-Union and the monetary damages and exclusion order sought by Epson.