Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc.
| Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Argued December 3, 2013 Decided March 25, 2014 | |
| Full case name | Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. |
| Docket no. | 12-873 |
| Citations | 572 U.S. 118 (more) 134 S. Ct. 1377; 188 L. Ed. 2d 392 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | 697 F.3d 387 (6th Cir. 2012); cert. granted, 569 U.S. 1017 (2013). |
| Holding | |
| Judgment AFFIRMED. Static Control's alleged injuries—lost sales and damage to its business reputation—fall within the zone of interests protected by the Lanham Act, and Static Control sufficiently alleged that its injuries were proximately caused by Lexmark's misrepresentations. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Scalia, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., is an American legal case involving the computer printer company Lexmark, which had designed an authentication system using a microcontroller so that only authorized toner cartridges could be used. The resulting litigation (described by Justice Scalia in 2014 as "sprawling", and by others as having the potential to go on as long as Jarndyce v. Jarndyce) has resulted in significant decisions affecting United States intellectual property and trademark law.
In separate rulings in 2004 and 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that:
- circumvention of Lexmark's ink cartridge authentication does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and
- Static Control Components had standing basis under the Lanham Act to sue Lexmark for false advertising in relation to its promotion of the program, which was unanimously affirmed in 2014 by the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Supreme Court's 2014 ruling also affects statutory interpretation in the area of standing in pursuing lawsuits on statutory grounds in a wide variety of areas in federal court.