The suit centred around white ink technologies, which Durst claimed EFI had used in a manner that infringed Durst's DE 20 2005 012 179 U1 'utility model' – a German intellectual property right similar to a patent.

EFI said that a court-appointed expert agreed that Durst's claims were not novel and that, on 27 November, the German regional court dismissed Durst's claims.

"We are very pleased that the German courts have shined a light on Durst's false claims that it invented the technology first," said EFI's president Fred Rosenzweig. "We look forward to continuing to bring our innovative customer-focused printing solutions to our customers throughout the world."

Neither party was available for comment at the time of writing.

The case was originally brought in 2007 and EFI's latest success follows a recent settlement in the US in which it successfully defended three claims from Leggett & Platt over its UV ink-curing technology.

EFI filed for a summary judgement on the patents on the basis of prior art, resulting in an agreement where EFI made no payments and Leggett & Platt agreed not to sue EFI or its customers under these or related patents.