Avery Dennison has filed a lawsuit in Germany against UPM Raflatac, asserting that Raflex MDO infringes European Patent Number 2 049 333 B1, Avery Dennison’s patent on its Global MDO pressure sensitive film product. UPM Raflatac is aware of the complaint and disputes that any infringement has occurred.

In the suit, Avery Dennison asks the German court to prevent UPM Raflatac from manufacturing, marketing, or selling Raflex MDO without a license. Global MDO is protected under patents granted in both Europe and China and has patent applications pending in the US and Brazil. According to UPM Raflatac, it has been developing a number of products within the MDO film technology field that have resulted in several new inventions that are protected globally through patenting.

“Avery Dennison respects the intellectual property rights of other companies and individuals and expects others to do the same,” says Jeroen Diderich, vice president, global marketing, Avery Dennison Materials Group. “We attempted to negotiate a license agreement with UPM Raflatac, in the hope of avoiding litigation while allowing their continued supply of this product. Unfortunately, that effort was unsuccessful.”

UPM Raflatac states that it will use every effort to protect itself against the claim.

According to Avery Dennison, its Global MDO (machine direction oriented) technology provides high conformability with a wide range of packaging shapes while maintaining superior printing and decoration capabilities for converters and brand owners. Global MDO film, launched in September 2011, is the latest development of the company’s MDO product family, which has been marketed globally since 1995.