Black Clouds loom for HP and Staples
HP and Staples in trouble?
It must have been last April when HP and Staples in the States announced that henceforward Staples would only be stocking HP original ink cartridges, and would dispense with their own brand refilled cartridges. Our immediate thought was that there must have been some deal done because our experience is that our customers like to have choice when it comes to selecting their cartridges.
Well, call me cynical, but the brown stuff seems to be hitting the fan as a Mr Ranjit Bedi of Pacific Palisades, California has filed an Antitrust lawsuit in a US District court in Boston (all nice and local there then!) alleging that the two plaintiffs (HP and Staples) have entered “an illegal agreement between competitors to stop competing” in which HP paid Staples market development funds to stop selling non-HP-branded ink-jet printer cartridges for HP printers. The suit alleges HP paid Staples, the largest U.S. specialty retailer of office supplies, more than $100 million in MDF (Market development Funds) to stop selling lower-priced printer cartridges for HP printers. Nowhere does Mr Bedi explain how he determined the sum of $100M.
HP released a statement denying the claims of the lawsuit. “HP denies that it has engaged in any anticompetitive conduct,” the statement said. “HP is confident, therefore, that after the relevant facts are presented to the judge it will be determined that our business relationship with Staples has been and is entirely proper.”
The suit asks for class-action status and says the actions violated the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, which prohibit noncompetitive behavior. It seeks unspecified money damages and asks the court to stop HP and Staples from engaging in noncompetitive acts. As a non lawyer this means nothing to me, but probably means that someone somewhere is going to make loadsamoney in various courts.
