Rivals Hijacked Trucks to Steal Technology ?

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SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Well the latest rumour is Hewlett Packard claims Chinese and Taiwanese competitors stole patented printer cartridge components from HP's factory in Singapore and copied them to sell made-to-order counterfeit HP inkjet cartridges on Amazon.com. "Trucks carrying HP parts were apparently hijacked while en route from the manufacturing facility in Singapore to the assembly plant in Malaysia ... in direct response to the heightened security measures that had been implemented in HP production facilities," HP says.
     After stealing the technology, Hewlett Packard claims, Microjet Technology (of Taiwan) Mipo Technology (of Hong Kong and mainland China), and their U.S. affiliates, including SinoTime Technologies (of Florida) sold more than 300,000 of the inkjet cartridges in the United States. The defendants have the capability to make nearly 10 million counterfeit cartridges a year in Asia, Hewlett Packard says.
     The federal filing is the latest in a long line of complaints that China is making up its technology gap with the United States through industrial espionage, theft, and wholesale patent infringement.
     MicroJet "sells generic and/or made-to-order infringing ink cartridges to other companies, including defendants Mipo and PTC [PTC Holdings Ltd., of Hong Kong]," and sells them itself as well, Hewlett Packard says. HP claims the defendants violated six patents after stealing the HP components.
     Hewlett Packard says it discovered the scheme after seeing color ink cartridges for sale on Amazon.com and Craigslist, advertised as "HP compatible."
     HP bought some of the cartridges from Amazon.com, then used HP's internal tracking database to cross-reference ID numbers on components, and found that the cartridges had "a genuine HP printhead and a non-HP cartridge body that closely resembled a genuine HP cartridge body."
     And it found that the printheads came from HP lots from Malaysia that had never been assembled by HP - "i.e., were identified as production gaps." All of these stolen items "were packaged in a 'Mipo' labeled box and were individually wrapped in a clear plastic interior packaging that is clearly consistent with the standard packaging for products manufactured by defendant Microjet," according to the complaint.
HP demands an injunction and damages for patent infringement, unfair competition and conversion.

Metawatch Offers New Canon PGI-220 Series

Metawatch is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the PGI-220 & CLI-221 Series of Cartridges.

In keeping with Metawatch’s past history of breakthrough pricing to its customer base we are pleased to announce unit pricing of these cartridges at $6.95 e.a.

These cartridges will be listed shortly on Metawatch’s site under Canon Compatible Cartridges.

Thank you for shopping at Metawatch

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Breakthrough Pricing for Epson T069 Series Cartridges

Once again Metawatch leads the pack when it comes to the lowest regular pricing for Epson's latest T069 series of Inkjet Cartridges.
(T069120, T069220, T069320, T069420)

Many suppliers have offered special sale prices to entice their clients to move from their existing suppliers, only to find they are offering older packaged supplies, or they are confronted with higher, more inflated prices upon their subsequent return.

Metawatches customers can rely on Metawatch to faithfully offer the lowest ongoing prices for their products without the fear of inflated prices down the road.

With over 30 years experience in the market, Metawatch can be relied on to be there when you need us.

Thank you for shopping at Metawatch.

Roomba Affiliate

We are officially an affiliate of Roomba products. By clicking the link(s) you will receive 10% off all Roomba products over the course of January 2010.

In addition you will also receive FREE Shipping for all order over $ 59.00
(All prices Quoted in U.S $)

Yes we are also very pleased of this new relationship with i-Robot and look forward to bringing you more 'Special" offers from i-Robot in the future.

Toaster looks, acts like printer

(Credit: Othmar Muehlebach)

Swiss designer Othmar Muehlebach conceived of a toaster that not only looks like an inkjet printer, but also toasts bread like one.

The toaster has an iMac like stand allowing you drop the bread on the tray at the top, which will then feed the slices into a slot where it'll be toasted. This design won a second-place Berner Design Award in Switzerland, but so far there's no sign of it going into production.

Just missing the butter cartridge..

2 Toast Per Min (TPM)

Canon Settles Patent Dispute (Buy your stock NOW !)

Canon has settled a dispute with five Japanese companies over patent infringement issues.

The businesses, Ohm Electric Inc., Color Creation Inc., Ninestar Japan Co., Futurewell Holding Ltd. and REV Corp, are all ink cartridge manufacturers as well.

Canon filed an injunction at Tokyo's District Courts last January, claiming that the inkjet cartridges sold by the firms violated Canon's patent on units featuring LED lights.

Following a recommendation from the courts to settle the dispute amicably, the five companies in question agreed to no longer import, sell, deliver or display for sales purposes the products in question.

Accordingly, Canon decided to drop the charges against them.

Under the terms of the settlement, the printing giant has granted the companies a grace period for existing stock and on-order products until the end of February 2010, with the said period for certain inkjet cartridge models extended to March.

This is a note to users of Canon printers to stock up on inventory (if you use third party products) well in advance of the Feb deadline. Future stock of these products will no longer be available from these suppliers.

Inkjet Cartridges and Canadian Winters

Well now as we approach the coldest months of the year it is time to review the Best Practices for handling inkjet cartridges in the Cold Canadian Winter months.

First and foremost it must be mentioned that inkjet cartridge ink is not designed to be frozen. This doesn't mean that they will not function properly, but special care and handling should be taken into account when buying cartridges and having them shipped in winter months.

Firstly, always make sure your inkjet cartridges are allowed to stabilize indoors at room temperature before using.

Secondly, certain cartridge(s) namely black are most often comprised of pigments used for coloration, and they can "separate" from solution when frozen.It is critical to shake the ink cartridge before opening after it has temperature stabilized. This will aid in allowing the pigments to be more uniformly distributed in the ink before using.(Failure to perform this operation may result in excess pigment separating out of solution and clogging print head assemblies)

By following these steps you will be ensured of extending the life of your printer and maintaining optimal operating characteristics for your ink cartridges.

Happy Printing !