HP Canon & Epson Ink, Lexmark, Brother Toner cartridge Printer Ink Cartridges News

 

Epson America Inc. announced that vigorous enforcement of its ink cartridge patents continues on many fronts following the Final Determination and Exclusion Orders by the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”). The decision made in October 2007 bars imports of infringing ink cartridges for Epson printers in the USA and Canada.

“Epson strongly recommends that all importers and distributors of cartridges for Epson printers take appropriate precautions to avoid infringement and potential seizures and liability,” said Alf Andersen, assistant general counsel, Epson America Inc

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service (U.S. Customs), which is responsible for enforcing the ITC General Exclusion Order, has been inspecting incoming cartridge shipments and seizing infringing cartridges. Recently, the ITC issued a Seizure and Forfeiture Order against Mipo America Inc. of Miami,  after a U.S. Customs seizure. Last month, U.S. Customs issued a Certification that requires all importers of new and refilled ink cartridges to certify, under penalty of perjury, that importation of the cartridges does not violate the Orders.

Earlier this year, Epson filed three enforcement complaints with the ITC against three large foreign suppliers of ink cartridges and their U.S. subsidiaries alleging continuing imports and sales of new and refilled infringing cartridges in violation of the ITC orders. The three foreign suppliers are Ninestar Technology Co. Ltd. of Zhuhai, China (supplier of G &G and OA100 brand cartridges); Mipo International Ltd. of Hong Kong (supplier of Mipo brand cartridges); and Cana-Pacific Ribbons Inc. of Vancouver, Canada (supplier of Butterfly brand and generic cartridges). The ITC has the authority to issue penalties up to the greater of $100,000 for each day of importation and sales of infringing products or twice the commercial value of the infringing products. On May 1, 2008, The ITC instituted formal enforcement proceedings against the Ninestar and Mipo companies. The ITC has not yet acted on Epson’s complaint against the Cana-Pacific companies.

In April 2008, Epson filed an additional patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore. against four prominent internet resellers of ink cartridges seeking permanent injunctions and compensation. The complaint alleges that the four companies continued to sell new or refilled ink cartridges that infringe 18 patents that collectively cover innovations in numerous on-carriage cartridges used in most Epson desktop inkjet printers, and off-carriage cartridges used in Epson large format inkjet printers. The defendants in the new lawsuit are Inkjetmadness.com, Inkgrabber.com ,Inksell.com of San Antonio, Texas; Meritline.com and Media Street Inc.

Epson recently took possession of 58,000 infringing inkjet cartridges from the bankruptcy trustee for MMC America Inc., which was the U.S. affiliate of Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric Co. Ltd., a Chinese conglomerate that manufactures MMC brand cartridges. The bankruptcy trustee surrendered the cartridges for destruction because the ITC Orders prevented their resale. In addition to the MMC America bankruptcy, many other foreign manufacturers and exporters of ink cartridges for Epson printers have closed their U.S. operations, apparently to avoid liability.

“Since U.S.-based resellers can be independently liable for substantial damages for patent infringement, Epson urges resellers to be very careful regarding claims of non-infringement and offers of patent indemnification from suppliers that have only a minimal presence in the U.S.,” said Andersen.

Epson maintains a Web site at http://www.itc.epson.com/ to provide U.S. importers and distributors with timely information about the ITC action and related U.S. District Court lawsuits. The U.S. Customs Certification, ITC Exclusion Orders, ITC Seizure and Forfeiture Order, ITC Enforcement Complaints and U.S. District Court complaints referenced in this press release are all posted on the Web site with other useful information, including a summary of the legal requirements for refilled cartridges.

 

Epson launch their ‘Print Academy’

Epson have launched a training day for users who want to get the most out of their inkjet printers. Users of Epson Inkjet Printers may get benefit from an in depth look at how to get the most out of their inkjet printers. With the increasing complexity offered by todays printers, most users (including yours truly) merely scratch the surface of what is on offer. In an effort to reduce costs the printer manufactures only give a very brief ‘how to setup the printer’ guide in the box so a huge amount of information is missed out. These ‘Academy Days’ are aimed at giving the user the opportunity of getting the most out of their hardware.

Epson Print Academy provides expert guidance on the fundamentals of image capture,
processing and print workflow.

• Colour perception
  
• RAW Vs JPEG
  
• Non-destructive processing
  
• Photoshop colour management settings
  
• Using ICC output profiles to print
  
• Printer driver options
  
• Printing B/W
  
• Hands on Q & A with Epson experts
  

Epson Print Academy UK is led by Jonathan Briggs past MD of the association in
imaging techniques. Alongside Jonathan will be members of the Epson team who
bring years of experience in digital printing.

The course is £56.40 inc VAT and includes a light lunch.
Choose from these two dates: 16 January or 17 January 2008.

Course spaces are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.

For more information follow this link: Epson printer training

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.

Epson Inks: What You Need To Know

 

Ink makes all the difference when it comes to choosing a printer. The types of inks used by the company can make a big impact on the quality of the print results and the oerall cost of running the machine. If you’re considering buying an Epson printer, here’s an overview of the ink options you’ll have.

 

Dye Inks vs. Pigment Inks

 

In order to understand the benefits of various Epson inks, it’s important to know the difference between two basic ink types: dye and pigment.

 

Dye inks saturate the surface of the paper they’re printed on. This can be good and bad. Good, because the ink sinks below the surface of the paper, presenting a smoother surface for light to reflect off. This makes colors generally sharper and clearer. Bad, because dye inks are more vulnerable to bleeding if they come in contact with water. Dye inks also typically don’t fare as well as pigment inks when exposed to light and gas; they tend to fade more quickly.

 

Pigment inks are more long-lasting when exposed to light and gas, and they are resistant to bleeding when in contact with water. Pigment ink particles typically rest on top of the paper, rather than sinking in. This makes for a rougher surface, causing the light to be scattered and colors to be less brilliant and sharp.

 

Epson has come a long way in developing technology that makes pigment ink colors much sharper—and dye inks less likely to bleed.

 

Types of Dye-Based Epson Inks

 

Four-color ink. Epson’s typical four-color dye inks are designed for general-purpose home printing. They are resistant to smudging in contact with water, if they’re printed on Epson’s glossy paper.

 

Claria. Claria ink is Epson’s photographic dye ink. It’s designed to be used with the company’s high-gloss photo paper in photo printers, including the Epson Stylus RX560, the R265, and the R360.

 

Claria ink has a richer and deeper color range than the company’s other dye inks, and the photos printed with this ink have sharper colors even than traditional photo lab prints. For a dye-based ink, Claria is also remarkably resistant to bleeding when in contact with water, as well as fading in contact with gas or light. The inks come in six color cartridges, rather than four.

 

Epson’s Pigment Inks

 

UltraChrome. Epson developed UltraChrome as a replacement for its older Archival Colorfast ink. UltraChrome is generally used in professional printers, and it’s designed to produce particularly sharp images and colors.

 

Epson’s UltraChrome ink pigments are about twice as dense as Epson’s other ink lines, which gives the printer the ability to express a wider range of colors and shades. Since these are pigment-based inks that are not water soluble, they tend to be very resistant to smearing when the page gets damp. UltraChrome is also resistant to light and gas exposure, and tends not to fade as much as other inks with the passage of time.

 

UltraChrome is often used for signage, professional graphic art printing, and photography printing. It’s also an excellent choice for archival ink; depending on the paper it’s printed on, this ink can have a display life of over 75 years. This ink prints on any quality paper, including high-gloss.

 

DURAbrite. DURAbrite inks are pigmented inks generally used for small office and home office printers. This is a durable ink that will produce professional-looking results even on plain white paper, but it can also print well on photo-quality paper.

 

DURAbrite ink cartridges produce smaller droplets than other ink lines, resulting in finer and sharper image quality. Unlike other pigment dyes, DURAbrite is designed to penetrate near the surface of the paper. The surface presented to light is smoother and more reflective, which also improves the quality of the image.

 

Like other pigment inks, DURAbrite won’t bleed when in contact with water. Although it does penetrate the paper near the surface, the ink does not become absorbed by individiual paper fibers and is less likely to bleed. DURAbrite prints on plain, matte, and some gloss papers.

 

Epson sells a wide range of printers for both business and home use. The type of ink a printer uses, however, can make as much difference in your costs and result as the printer itself. Consider inks when choosing a printer, and you’ll be more likely to get the results you’re looking for.

From Cameras to Ink: The History of Canon

 

The company we know today as Canon was first founded in 1933, as a small streetside shop called Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. The founders, Goro Yoshida and Saburo Uchida, started the company in order to produce a 35-millimetre rangefinder camera.

 

The first camera the company developed went by the name “Kwanon,” after a Buddhist Bodhisattva. Although three versions of this camera were marketed and as many as ten were said to be in production, none were ever sold on a large commercial scale.

 

Although Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory had developed a camera, it had failed to develop a lens. The company decided to partner with Japan Optical Industries—the company we now know as Nikon. This company had developed a camera lens under the name “Nikkor.” In 1936, Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory released its first camera to the commercial market: the Hansa Canon.

 

The Hansa Canon was only the beginning. In 1939, the company began producing its own lenses in-house. A year later, the Japanese army approached several manufacturing companies with a request to produce an X-ray camera. These companies in turn came to Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory with the request. Toward the end of the year, the company produced the first X-ray cameras.

 

In 1945, the company was disbanded briefly after the end of World War II, after part of its facilities were destroyed by fire. When Allied forces came to occupy Japan, the company’s president, Takeshi Mitarai, noticed they showed an interest in Japanese cameras. He made the decision to reopen the company to cater to these interests, inviting back workers who had been let go when the plant closed.

 

In 1947, Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory changed its name to Canon Camera Company. The name was more appealing than the previous one had been to the occupying allied forces, and the script used in Japanese to write the new name was a style that other companies of the time never used—so the name stood out among its competitors and in the Japanese stock exchange.

 

Canon’s company may have begun with cameras, but it eventually expanded into other markets. In 1982, the company introduced its first personal copying machines to the market. Later, in 1987, the company introduced color copying machines. Technology improved further over the years as the company developed inkjet and laser printers and the world’s first ferroelectric liquid crystal display (FLCD).

 

Today, Canon is well known for its line of cameras, computer printers, and other electronics for home use. However, the company also offers business products such as analog and digital copiers, scanners, and all-in-one machines—and these make a significant amount of the company’s revenue. Canon has also developed a line of flat-panel televisions in partnership with Toshiba, under the name SED, Inc.

 

Among Canon’s product lines, the ImageRUNNER series is worth mentioning. This office-sized copier is designed to be environmentally conscious. It warms up in just sixteen seconds, saving energy as well as time. The products in this line also conform to European laws that demand the reduction of lead and other environmentally damaging substances used in manufacturing.

 

Canon’s ImageDirect printer series was also groundbreaking. These Inkjet printers allow users to print directly from their cameras without going through a computer. The printers use photo-quality paper and ink to produce prints that look like snapshots.

 

Canon’s printers are primarily Inkjet, and the company produces a wide range of models from compact desktop printers to all-in-one printers, scanners and copiers. Canon is generally known to sell a high-quality product. However, the print head in a Canon printer is often mounted directly onto the ink cartridge—meaning users must change the ink cartridges if they need to change the print head. In addition, many of Canon’s printers use ink cartridge configurations that are not compatible with other Canon printers; some machines use all-in-one ink cartridges, while others require separate black, cyan, blue and magenta cartridges.

 

Canon is one of the groundbreaking companies that can be credited with the development and improvement of printer technology throughout the years. The company has come a long way since its beginning, and it’s one of the oldest printer and electronics companies still in business today.