Xerox Wins Round in Hewlett-Packard Case

Xerox Corp. said a federal court ruled it can use microchips it purchased from Hewlett-Packard Co. in its printers, winning a round in a lawsuit against its rival. Officials at HP were not immediately available to comment on the ruling by Judge J. Thomas Martin in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan. Each side has made damage claims against the other, and the court must still decide if Xerox can use the chips in the future under the original agreement between the companies, Xerox said. The chips use HP TruRes technology to sharpen images in color laser printers. Xerox had sought a quick ruling from the Kansas judge in order to continue production of its Xerox DocuPrint NC60 color laser printer. Under the ruling, HP must hand over the chips immediately, Xerox said. In New York Stock Exchange trading, HP shares fell $6.63 to close at $103.06; Xerox fell $2.13 to close at $44.50.