Case report: Xerox triumphs in EU trademark dispute

Printer company Xerox prevailed in a pan-European case over trademarked stock, as Tanguy de Haan and Philippe Péters of NautaDutilh report.

On October 20, the Brussels Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Xerox in a pan-European dispute against Belgian company Impro Europe concerning the latter’s marketing of Xerox consumables for printers, copiers, etc, in the EU.

Throughout Europe Xerox sells its consumables inter alia under the ‘Xerox’ trademark, either separately or in the scope of maintenance agreements. In the latter case, authorised Xerox service providers provide maintenance services to end users and the consumables are supplied as part of these services. Unlike Xerox consumables sold separately, consumables sold in the scope of a maintenance agreement are marked with the word “metered” or the ‘PagePack’ or ‘eClick’ trademarks.

The maintenance agreements between authorised Xerox services providers and end users contain a retention of title clause in favour of Xerox for the consumables supplied under contract.