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Supreme Court: Company Can Move Forward With Lexmark Suit

The Supreme Court will allow a competitor of printer maker Lexmark International Inc. to move forward with a lawsuit accusing the company of disparaging its business.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will allow a competitor of printer maker Lexmark International Inc. to move forward with a lawsuit accusing the company of disparaging its business.

The justices on Tuesday unanimously upheld a federal appeals court decision allowing Static Control Components, Inc., to go ahead with a false advertising complaint against Lexmark, a major producer of printers and printer cartridges.

Static Control makes parts that allow the repair and resale of Lexmark toner cartridges. The two companies have been fighting over Static Control's business, and Static Control says Lexmark falsely told customers their products infringed on Lexmark's intellectual property and that using remanufactured Lexmark toner cartridges was illegal.

A federal judge threw out that complaint, but the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it.

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