Memjet has filed a lawsuit against HP in an American court claiming infringement of eight of its patents in HP’s T-series and PageWide printers.

The patents relate to Memjet’s single-pass page-wide inkjet technology, known as Waterfall, which it alleges HP has used in its printers.

The suit takes aim at HP PageWide office and wide format models and the T-Series inkjet web printers, as well as future wide format and 3D printers that could use the same technology.

“The lawsuit seeks both to enjoin Hewlett-Packard from its unauthorised use of Memjet’s patented page-wide Waterfall technology, and to recover damages resulting from Hewlett-Packard’s unauthorised use of that patented technology in HP’s PageWide printer products,” it says.

[Related: See you in court!]

HP launched the PageWide range internationally earlier this year and in Australia at PrinEx15, with the first models to begin shipping next month.

However, the T-series has been on the market since drupa 2008 and the Pro-X office printers using PageWide technology were launched in 2012. It is not known why Memjet has taken this long to pursue legal action.

Memjet claims its technology is protected by about 5000 global patents, with another 500 pending. More than 2000 of those patents were granted in the USA.

Many manufacturers like Canon, Delphax, Fuji Xerox and Neopost use Memjet technology under licence in printers, like Canon’s ColorWave high-speed inkjet model launched last year, with HP’s range seen as a direct competitor.

There is speculation that HP may use the lawsuit as an opportunity to return fire and accuse Memjet of infringing on its own patents.

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