PIA Fights to Nullify Digital Workflow Patents

The patent owner has aggressively sought licensing fees from dozens of printing companies and has sued many of them for infringement. The patents broadly address methods for receiving customer files, using a computer network to perform various prepress functions and creating a plate-ready PDF file.

“We’re not going to stand by and let a patent troll intimidate our members into paying unnecessary licensing fees,” said Michael Makin, Printing Industries of America’s president and CEO. “The patents should never have been granted, since the claims were obviously based on prior patents and published documents. I hope this action will give our members the upper hand in fighting these frivolous lawsuits and causes the patent owner to discontinue its licensing campaign.”