Hacienda Heights, CA (May 4, 2017) — Green Project is pleased to announce that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has sided with the company in favor of its challenge to CBP’s seizure of ink and toner cartridges last year. In letters dated February 21 and April 21, Charles Steuart, chief of CBP’s Intellectual Property Branch, said the Green Project cartridges in question had been “permissibly repaired” and should not be excluded from entry into the United States.
“We knew that U.S. Customs would find in our favor,” said Green Project President Joseph Wu. He explains that the company worked closely with Customs and their import specialists to have its shipments cleared. “To be honest, we never doubted the outcome. Green Project monitors its supply chain very closely to ensure there are no intellectual property (IP) violations. We work hard to stay on the right side of the law, and we were confident we would prevail when Customs had the time to review the seizure.”
Maintaining that its imported cartridges were legitimately remanufactured, Green Project protested CBP’s seizure of shipments, which occurred at California ports in November and December 2016. Agents were acting on four general exclusion orders issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in the 337-TA-565, 337-TA-691, 337-TA-723, and 337-TA-946 investigations. The orders limit the importation of certain third-party inkjet cartridges presumed to violate Epson and HP patents. To prove its remanufactured cartridges did not infringe, Green Project presented CBP with the identity of the retailer that first sold the OEM cartridges in the United States and then later collected the spent cartridges from its customers. Green Project also documented for the authorities how these cores were gathered, shipped to China and remanufactured, and then returned to be marketed in the United States.
After reviewing Green Project’s claims, Steuart held in favor of the firm. He found that the cartridges in question were “originally purchased within the United States” and that the processes used to remanufacture the cartridges fell “under permissible repair.” As a result, he said the cartridges involved in the seizures were outside of the ITC exclusion orders. “Therefore,” wrote Steuart, “the protest challenging exclusion from entry is granted,” and the shipments were released to Green Project.
“Green Project has always put respecting IP at the top of our priority list,” Wu said. He explains that in today’s market, the stakes are too high to not play by the rules. “Customs has now rescinded seizure orders on Green Project imports twice this year. It should be clear to all that the products we market do not violate any IP. Our customers know they can rely on our products to perform at the highest level, and we achieve this level of excellence by adhering to strict R&D processes that conform to all IP laws.”
Wu assured Green Project customers that regardless of existing general exclusion orders, his firm’s remanufactured cartridges are safe to import without any issues.
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About Green Project
Green Project Inc. is an international imaging supplier with offices based in China, Europe, and the United States. The company has recycling facilities overseas as well as in the United States. Green Project products are extensively developed and pass quality systems such as ISO 9001. Product development is Green Project’s strength and its repairing process is different from that of many other recyclers, which allows for an even higher quality cartridge resulting in lower defectives.
