PALO ALTO, Calif., May 17, 2001 Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP) today announced that it has settled outstanding patent litigation relating to thermal inkjet printer cartridges with Printer Essentials.com, Inc. HP instituted patent infringement proceedings before the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) by filing a complaint against Printer Essentials, as well as Microjet Technology Co., Ltd. of Taipei, Taiwan; Cartridge Hut and Paper Plus of Sun City, Calif.; and Price-Less Inkjet Cartridge Company and ABCCo.net, Inc., both of Port Charlotte, Fla. HP's complaint contends that the companies are infringing six HP patents by importing or selling inkjet cartridges manufactured by Microjet, including one model intended to replace the HP 51626A cartridge and another model intended to replace the HP 51629A cartridge. As part of the settlement, Printer Essentials has agreed to enter into a consent order through which it agrees to immediately stop importing and selling the disputed cartridges. Printer Essentials also has acknowledged that the Microjet cartridges infringe HP's patents and that the patents are valid. According to the settlement, Printer Essentials said it began selling the cartridges because it was led to believe that they did not infringe HP's patents. In addition, it determined that the best way to respect intellectual property rights and protect its customers was to cease importing the cartridges and settle the matter with HP. The ITC investigation against Microjet and the other companies is continuing.