≫ SoManyCameras さん > 漢字が多すぎてよく分かりません。
Ok, I will go without chinese character :-)
There are a lot of suit relating to inkjet printer cartridge, both in Japan and in other
countries. Every major vendor, including Canon, Epson and HP, has brought several suit.
Your clipped article is only one of these and doesn't have much effect by itself alone.
For these patent suit, to me, the point seems not to be protection of technology/investment,
but purely to be validity of the patent. Prof Aizawa in Katokichi's link seems to emphasize
the former, but it may not be essential.
Clear case is Epson's lost case against Ecorica. Epson almost won every overseas suit,
but lost at IP High Court in its country, being indicated that the argued patent is invalid.
Difference from Canon's win case, is just the validity of the patent, especially for
(re)production of cartridges.
If court tries to balance more merit of technology, validity of patent means more purely.
IMHO, like cellular phone, business models much depending on running cost inevitably
have some difficulty or risk.