Spanish Court Declares EFI Victorious in Patent Litigation

Claramonte filed the lawsuit against Cretaprint in May 2011, prior to EFI's January 2012 acquisition of the innovative ceramic inkjet printer business, alleging that Cretaprint's ceramic digital inkjet printer products infringe his patent. From the outset, EFI and EFI Cretaprint have maintained that, not only are Claramonte's infringement claims meritless, but that his patent is invalid. In a decision issued earlier this month, the Commercial Court in Valencia agreed with EFI, and resoundingly rejected Claramonte's infringement claims and declared that his purported invention lacked any inventive step. The appeal period has not yet expired. A court in the United Kingdom issued a similar judgment of non-infringement late last summer.