Reseller Claims Seiko Epson Sent a Spy to Its Warehouse

Looks like the inkjet business is becoming a cloak and dagger industry with Spies and the like.

Epson Printer cartridges have long been a subject of legal dispute, to clamp down on knock offs.

As reported in the Wall street journal It is rare that such fights include allegations of corporate espionage.

In an Oregon federal court, the Green Project Inc., a small ink-cartridge reseller, claims that Seiko Epson Corp., sent an investigator disguised as a customer to snoop around the company.

The alleged incident began with a lawsuit that Seiko Epson filed in April against Green Project, which refills and resells old ink cartridges, and other cartridge resellers.

In recent years, Seiko Epson has taken legal action against companies that import cartridges to sell in the U.S. In 2007, responding to a complaint by the Japanese company, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that certain imported cartridges violate Seiko Epson patents and ordered vendors to stop importing them. In a followup ruling last year, the ITC said that imports of certain "remanufactured" cartridges also violate Epson patents.

In April, Seiko Epson sued a number of companies that it alleged were violating the import ruling. One was Green Project.

Joseph Wu, Green Project's founder and president, denied the company sells cartridges that were originally sold overseas. The ITC ruling stipulated that only cartridges originally sold in the U.S. can be refilled for resale in the U.S. Wu said Green Project buys used printer cartridges that were sold in the U.S. from brokers ; that they are then shipped to China, where they are refilled and sent back to the U.S. for sale, he said. The brokers guarantee in writing that the cartridges are collected in the U.S.

Last month, Mr. Wu's company countersued Seiko Epson, claiming that Mr. Seitz's (Spy) actions constituted trespassing and theft of trade secrets. The suit seeks to prevent Seiko Epson from using the information collected, as well as restitution. It also seeks a declaration that certain Seiko Epson patents are invalid.

Mr. Seitz's "misrepresentation and subsequent entry into Green Project's warehouse constitutes trespass," the company's lawyer wrote in a July 27 court filing. Green Project also alleges that Mr. Seitz improperly accessed company trade secrets when he requested a price list.

Mr. Barza said that while Mr. Seitz has "done investigations before" for Epson, he is an independent contractor, not an Epson employee.

"There's a raging debate" in the legal community over ethical guidelines for information gathering, said Patrick Robbins, a defense lawyer at Shearman & Sterling LLP who sometimes uses private detectives.

Mr. Robbins said courts have offered little clarity on whether it is acceptable to use deception to obtain information.

Lets all keep our eyes and ears open for the next chapter in this espionage thriller.

Seiko Epson Corp. has been hit with antitrust counterclaims

Seiko Epson Corp. has been hit with antitrust counterclaims

Seiko Epson Corp. has been hit with antitrust counterclaims in its patent infringement litigation against China's Ninestar Technology Co. Ltd. and other printer supply manufacturers over ink cartridges.

In counterclaims filed Friday in the U.S District Court for the District of Oregon, Ninestar and its affiliates allege that Seiko Epson has patented features in its ink cartridges that are not novel or distinct from prior cartridges in order to prevent others from offering competing ink cartridges for use in Epson printers.

Seiko Epson preps inkjet-printed OLEDs for big picture

PORTLAND, Ore. — Printing high-definition organic LED (OLED) displays with ultrahigh-resolution inkjet printers will lower the cost and increase the color accuracy of flat-panel televisions, according to Seiko Epson Corp.

Tokyo-based Seiko Epson will reveal details of its fabrication process at the Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, running May 31-June 5 in San Antonio, Texas.

According to Satoru Miyashita, general manager of Epson's OLED Development Center, Seiko Epson will show an ink-jet printed 14-inch OLED display that the company claims has the same resolution as, and better color accuracy than, today's 37-inch 1080p high-definition TVs.

"Large-screen OLED TVs are the future," Miyashita said.

The company has been working since 2004 to perfect its microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based inkjet printing process, which uses piezoelectric actuators to deposit precisely measured dots of different sizes onto transparent substrates suitable for fabricating OLED displays.

The low-temperature fabrication process for printed OLEDs is lower in cost than the high-temperature semiconductor processing required for conventional LED displays. OLEDs also offer a wider color gamut, enabling them to render colors more accurately, as well as a wider field of view and increased contrast over conventional LED-based displays.

To date, however, OLED use has been restricted to smaller screens as manufacturers have sought reliable methods to deposit the necessary organic compounds with sufficient uniformity on large substrates. While some research efforts use vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE) to fabricate large-area OLEDs Seiko Epson has concentrated on refining its inkjet printing process.

VTE is a subtractive process that requires placement of a shadow on top of the substrate in order to pattern the organic compounds. The inkjet process, by contrast, deposits a thin film of liquid organic compounds one drop at a time. Since the inkjet process is additive, it requires less raw material than VTE does. It also requires fewer steps than VTE, increasing manufacturing throughput.

In trial production runs of the 14-inch OLED television to be demonstrated at the SID symposium, Seiko Epson claims to have fabricated color films with greater than 1 percent uniformity, which exceeds the requirements for mass producing OLED flat panels. The company claims its process is close to being ready for prime time.

Epson EC-01 Recyclable Printer

OK, it is April 1st, and time for practical jokes, but really now.....

Epson has released a new Environment-Friendly Printing system dubbed the EC-01...

As part of their Environmental Vision 2050 program Epson has literally released a printer that comes with pre-filled ink built into the printer and when it is empty you have to return the Printer for a credit and pick up a replacement printer ! I am not kidding !

This is not April fools....

When you purchase a unit, you will receive it encased in an unpainted and recycled cardboard box. As you set it up, you will leaf through a manual that is printed in recycled paper, and install it using a CD driver stored in an envelope made out of recycled paper. You will get to use the printer to print about 8,000 to 8,500 pages, and then its work is done.

Yes, that’s right. Its work is done because, unlike other printers where you replace the cartridges when the ink runs out, you simply up and take the EC-01 back to Epson, and you get a sort of ‘deposit’ as a rebate – an amount that has been embedded into the purchase price.

Metawatch Support for NX 100 - NX 300 Coming Soon

Support for the latest series chipsets supporting the Epson NX 100-300 Series printers is coming soon.

Our suppliers have informed us that we can expect these cartridges to be delivered any day now so we are anxious to be able to provide them to our current customer base.

Metawatch already has support for Epsons NX 400 series and will be adding this additional support in the forthcoming days.

Thanks for waiting

U.S. Court of Appeals Affirms ITC General Exclusion Order That Prohibits Imports of Infringing Ink Cartridges

Epson Continues Enforcement of Its Ink Cartridge Patents - – LONG BEACH, United States.- On January 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. affirmed the Final Determination and General Exclusion Order of the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC").

A General Exclusion Order that bars imports of infringing new and refilled cartridges was entered by the ITC in October 2007, after an ITC trial established widespread infringement of Epson’s cartridge patents by many foreign manufacturers, importers and U.S. distributors.

The unsuccessful Appeal was filed by Ninestar Technologies Co, Ltd.of China, Ninestar’s U.S.
subsidiaries and Dataproducts USA LLC (a division of Clover Technologies Group). Epson will vigorously proceed with enforcement of its patents now that the validity and enforceability of its patents have again been ratified.

A second ITC trial was conducted on Jan.14-16, 2009 in Washington D.C. to determine any financial penalties that may be assessed against Ninestar, Mipo America,Ltd. and Cana-Pacific Ribbons Inc. and their affiliates for alleged violations of the General Exclusion Order.

The ITC has not yet determined any violations, but has the authority to assess substantial penalties up to $100,000 per day of violations or twice the commercial value of infringing imports. In addition to the ITC actions, Epson filed U.S. District Court lawsuits in Portland, Ore., for patent infringement damages against the same 24 companies named in the ITC action and numerous additional distributors and retailers alleged to have continued infringements after the ITC Final Determination.

The District Court cases were stayed pending the ITC Determination and Appeal, but will now proceed against those defendants that have not settled. Recently, Epson settled two of these lawsuits filed against major internet retailers: Media Street Inc. and Comptree Inc.

Epson maintains a Web site (http://www.itc.epson.com/) that provides U.S. importers, distributors and retailers with timely information about the ITC action and related U.S. District Court lawsuits. The U.S. Court of Appeals Judgment, ITC Exclusion Orders, ITC Seizure and Forfeiture Orders, 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.

These ITC actions and U.S. District Court lawsuits were all brought by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. as part of Epson’s worldwide efforts to protect Epson’s intellectual property rights and its substantial investments in R & D to produce high quality, innovative printers and ink cartridges.

Although most U.S. importers and distributors have now undertaken commendable efforts to avoid infringing Epson’s cartridge patents, Epson will continue taking the necessary actions to protect the company and legitimate competitors from ongoing infringements and unfair competition.

Photographer Andrew Darlow Announces Full-Day Fine-Art Inkjet Printing Workshops

301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers

New Jersey Media Center LLC will host two separate full-day workshops, entitled Fine-Art Inkjet Printing: How to Prepare Files and Make Gallery-Quality Prints on Saturday, January 9, 2009 and Sunday, January 10, 2009 from 10:00am-5:00pm. The workshops, held at Nancy Ori Studios in Berkley Heights, NJ and conducted by photographer and consultant Andrew Darlow, are designed for professional and amateur photographers, as well as other artists.

The workshops, each limited to just five participants, will cover the following: an overview of pro-quality printers from Canon, Epson and HP; a description of more than 20 recommended inkjet papers (including glossy, fiber gloss, and watercolor); color management hardware and software options (including a demonstration of how to make custom monitor and printer profiles); and tips for optimizing workflow and print quality with specific papers and printers in Adobe Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS2/CS3/CS4, and other programs.

Selected prints output from Canon, Epson and HP printers will be demonstrated and discussed, and each attendee will have at least two prints made of their work on a pigment-based inkjet printer (13-inch-wide Epson and HP printers will be used). Participants will receive more than 30 letter-sized blank sheets of high-end inkjet papers for testing, and a class binder detailing the contents of the presentation, as well as the step-by-step print workflow covered in the workshop will be provided to each participant. Each attendee will also receive a 30 minute private phone follow-up consultation with Andrew Darlow.

Andrew Darlow notes, "I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to teach these workshops at New Jersey Media Center after having such great experiences at the previous ten full-day workshops that I've conducted there over the last six months. Working with each attendee to make prints of their inspiring work during the class has been a real joy."

A two-page PDF brochure with pricing and information can be found at www.imagingbuffet.com/workshops.

Registration information:

Nancy Ori Studio: (908) 790-8820 or e-mail Nancy Ori at nancyori@comcast.net

About Andrew Darlow:Andrew Darlow: Andrew Darlow is photographer, writer and digital imaging consultant. He is the former Editorial Director of Digital Imaging Techniques Magazine, and the current editor of ImagingBuffet.com, an online imaging magazine and podcast. He has appeared on WOR Radio (NYC) and Inside Digital Photography TV, and his work has been featured in numerous magazines and websites, including Photo District News, PDN Gear Guide, Popular Photography, Rangefinder, Studio Photography and iMagazine (Japan).

Over the past 15 years, he has taught thousands how to improve their photography, workflow and digital print output at conferences, industry events, and educational institutions, including the PDN PhotoPlus Expo, PhotoImaging & Design Expo, the Arles Photo Festival (Arles, France), the School of Visual Arts, Columbia University, and the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York.His book, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers, (Course Technology PTR), is a resource that covers many aspects of digital printmaking, and includes the imagery and advice of over 20 photographers and other artists. He also publishes the Inkjet & Imaging Tips Newsletter, available free to subscribers at www.imagingbuffet.com.

About the Book: 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques

“301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques,” is a comprehensive, how-to guide to high-quality digital output that shows photographers of all levels how to make high-quality prints through detailed instructions and hundreds of full-color examples from more than 20 professional photographers and other artists.

The book was recently chosen as the winner in the 'Photography: Instructional/How-To' category of The National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News.Book information:ISBN-10: 1598632043ISBN-13: 978-1598632040Published by: Course Technology PTR 528 pages, 7.4x9 inches (Paperback)

Website: www.inkjettips.com

Media Contact:Nancy OriDirector, NJ Media Center LLC(908) 790-8820

nancyori@comcast.net

Andrew Darlow Piscataway, NJ Phone : 732-742-0123

Companion Site for 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques

Book Title : 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers

Journalists - Click here for a Review Copy of 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers

Order 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers
Contact Andrew Darlow

Back To Schools Specials (Inkjet)

Back To School Deals

Well it's that time of year when we all have to get the kids ready for school, and now it's not only clothes and paper, but computer supplies as well. Thankfully, most of the major retailers are also aware of this and they are also advertising back to school specials.

On-Line Market Offers Deals (Inkjet)

It was only a Matter of time before the on-line discount market got on the bandwagon, and offered deals for Back To School. Metawatch Inkjet Supplies for one has been offering discounts for back to schoolers for years and has now just recently reduced their prices literally across the board for Epson, HP, and Canon Inkjet Cartridge products.

Discounts for highly discounted products.

Just when everyone thought that they could already get great deals on-line, along comes this highly discounted product (Inkjet Cartridges), and their distributors manage to cut their prices for back to school specials. Why do they do it ? Well, typically stock starts to pool during the summer months due the the large volume of consumers on vacation, so their market is somewhat slow in getting back into the fray. Offering back to school specials provides for a foot in the door into the newly purchased printer market for thrifty shoppers.Its your best time of year to stock up on supplies as the prices tend to be the lowest of the year !

Epson Stylus Photo R280

Looking for Epsons latest Phot printer at a reasonable price ?

Overview

Print directly onto ink jet printable CDs/DVDs
Six individual ink cartridges
Smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant photos
Claria™ Hi-Definition Ink for photos that last up to 200 years¹
Fast, easy set up
Print on popular paper sizes and finishes

The affordable Epson® R280 Ultra Hi-Definition photo printer is the fast, easy way to achieve extraordinary results. Print brilliant, 4" x 6" photos in as fast as 11 seconds or text documents at speeds up to 38 ppm¹. This powerful performer delivers amazing results, from family photos to web pages and more.

Built-in Auto Photo Correction¹ automatically corrects the lighting in poorly exposed photos. And, its advanced face detection automatically distinguishes people from scenery to ensure beautiful, natural skin tones. You get brilliant photos you'll want to share for generations to come. And, photos printed with Claria™ ink resist smudges, scratches, water and fading.

The Epson R280 also prints images and text directly onto ink jet printable CDs and DVDs – no need for messy markers or labels. With such remarkable quality and versatility, this easy-to-use printer is ideal for all your everyday needs. Get value, versatility and truly extraordinary results from the Epson R280.

Inkjet Printhead life

One of the most critical components of an inkjet machine is the printhead.

On average, every nozzle is expected to produce 20-50 billion ink drops during its lifetime (WOW) . This is considered to be the case for piezoelectric (piezo) heads; the type commonly used in Epson brand printers.

The other major brands (HP, Lexmark,DELL,and Brother) all use the thermal print head designs and the lifetime for thermal printing heads is substantially lower.

Resolution makes all the difference.

The frequency of ink drop production is directly linked to resolution and speed. For example, to print at a speed of 0.3 meter per second with a resolution of 1,000 dpi (the starting point for a graphic application), the head must fire with a frequency of 12,000 ink drops per second.

Assuming a “best case” average life expectancy of 50 billion total ink drops, the head then should be able to operate for approximately 1,150 total hours before needing to be replaced.

(Earlier for thermal heads)

What does that mean in terms of years of use, or paper use ?

1,150 hours relates to @ 10 pages per minute to about 690,000 pages or 1380 reams of 500 pages.

Or ,if you print for 1 hours every day ( 650 pages/day) your printer head would last you about 3.1 years.

Most people, print under 20 pages/day so that would work out to approx 102 years of life on your print head.

In effect, you more likely to have a power supply failure,break in the carriage motor, or other failure.

So why do so many people complain about head failures ?

Printer heads can and will fail if

a) the printer is operated without ink.

Ink in reality is a lubricant for the head assembly and without it the print head overheats and burns itself out. Just like your car need water in the radiator, you print head needs ink to keep it cool and conduct the heat away.

b) the ink is allowed to dry in the print head.

Ink, although specially formulated not to evaporate, is still prone to evaporate over time, and as a result the remaining (pigment, or dye) becomes concentrated and can eventually clog the heads. If you want to keep you printer running smoothly make sure you use your ink with 6 months of opening, and use the print head cleaning cycle on the printer at least once a month.

You printer needs ongoing maintenance just like your car, and that means the heads need to be flushed at regular intervals. Leaving your printer either out of ink, or with old ink in it is a formula for failure.

T069 Cartridge Compatibility

If you search around the internet long enough trying to find the best price for your T069 series cartridges you'll most certaily bump into sites that are selling these cartridges at super low prices.

Buyers Beware !

Like all to many things in life, sometimes a good deal isn't as good as it seems.

As a result of the recent ruling in the U.S. against G&G (and others), many companies in the U.S. were caught off guard , and had stock they could no longer move in the U.S. marketplace.

Well low and behold, all of a sudden there are Canadian companies selling off Epson Compatible cartridges (an older series) that support earlier series of printers manufactured before March 2007 for the T069 series. They also have expiry dates about 12 months in the future (From Now) versus the regular 24 months that is more typical of newly manufactured products.

So, for now if you need these types of cartridges for your older model printer, you might just be able to take advantage of these specials. Beware if you have problems, these vendors do not have a compatible product for all makes and models, and their future inventory of these cartrides is limited as they are no longer being manufactured.

Regardless of the warranty being offered by these other start-up companies, their products will have expired before the warranty is up, and or they may not be in a postion to provide a suitable alternative product when the time comes. They might not even continue to exist as suppliers at that time.

Metawatch, continues to offer current product model compatiblity , and is a well established vendor of choice for these products.

The choice is yours.

Ultra Violet inkjet OLEDs

Polymertronics is a technology enabler for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

They were set up in 2006 to develop technology to produce inkjet-printable, ultra-violet (UV) curable organic light-emitting diode fluids. OLEDs that can be printed on standard UV-inkjet equipment have many advantages.

They are much quicker and cheaper to produce than standard OLEDs, they can be designed and manufactured with very short lead times, they can be printed on to a range of exotic surfaces including flexible ones

What are UV-inkjet OLEDs?

OLEDs were first invented by Eastman Kodak in the early 1980s and development since then has been impressive. OLEDs are used routinely in many display screens, such as those for mobile phones and for low-level lighting of dashboards. Recently, substantial investment has been made in research for developing OLEDs to replace incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs as a primary lighting source.

OLEDs are produced by blending chemicals containing a light-emissive component with a UVcurable polymer. When printed, this mixture is then exposed to a UV light source and cured to a flexible solid within four seconds. The purpose they serve is for bespoke product displays such as 7-segment displays and the like.

The benefits of organic technology are numerous.

For both non-UV curable OLEDs and UV curable OLEDs, there are common benefits:

1. Printing on flexible and rigid media such as plastics, vinyl, glass and metal
2. Immediate product demand - zero lead time
3. Flexible media
4. Fast response to applied voltage for rapid changing graphics
5. Wide viewing angle of OLED devices
6. Very high definition for display

Beyond the common advantages, UV-inkjet OLEDs have further advantages:

1. Simple, fast manufacture
2. Low product waste results in a 'green' technology
3. Instant curing following printing
4. Print-on-demand technology
5. Zero product-volume loss during process

Where Can UV-Inkjet OLEDs Be Used?


OLEDs will add new and unparalleled layers of safety to consumer products. For example, it will reassure consumers that products and brands are genuine, that they have not been tampered with, and that they are within their use-by date.


According to the UK's National Health Service, unclear packaging and labelling contributes to 25% of medication errors. The University of London has studied people reading packaging and found that 25% of fullsighted people have difficulty reading packets and other instructions.

Difficulty with reading information on packaging arises for a number of reasons. The label design or legal requirements may necessitate a smaller font to fit all of the information on the label. Integrating OLEDs into the packaging could highlight the most important details of a drug through an interactive display.

In the interests of sterility, many medical devices are used only once. For this to be viable, such devices must be cheap to produce. Inkjet printing enables a component of a medical device to be manufactured quickly and with significantly less tooling than is presently required. Further, medical devices are often sealed until they are used.

Advertisements can already be backlit, but with printed OLEDs the illumination can be incorporated into the advertisement itself relatively cheaply. There is no tooling required and print designs can be executed quickly. For a fast-paced industry such as advertising, this reduction in lead-time offers a substantial advantage.

Printed OLEDs could be extremely valuable in aiding anti-counterfeiting measures and in tracking goods in transit. Embedded customised data presents fraudsters with a new hurdle. Furthermore, tampering can be quickly and easily detected and data can be changed often to keep ahead of criminals.


What's Next?

Inkjet testing of the OLED fluid has shown that further refinement of the OLED chemistry is required to enable fluid to be inkjet printed by Epson, or HP printer-heads, for when the formulation is for thin (bright) devices.

Finally Low Cost Inkjet Supplies available across Canada

Published on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Pointe-Fortune, May 21, 2008- Metawatch , a supplier specializing in third party (Epson, Canon and HP compatible and Remanufactured cartridges) Inkjet supplies continues to expand its customer base across Canada.

Metawatch, initially founded in response to high inkjet cartridge pricing, has now evolved into a fully independent, self supporting operational infrastructure with distribution capability across Canada.

Metawatch prides itself on supplying high quality, reliable products across Canada at some of the lowest prices available in the inkjet market backed by a 100% SATISFACTION guarantee makes them a safe choice for your investment in inkjet supplies.

To offset the high cost of shipping product across Canada they offer several price points to their customers.

Orders over $50.00 have free shipping while orders under $20.00 will cost you $10.99. Orders of $20-$30 are $8.50 and orders between $30-$50 will cost you $7.50 for delivery.

As products typically have a 2 year expiry date, clients are encouraged to purchase a 1 years supply (or more than $50.00) to maximize their savings.

Operating as an E-Commerce Mail order company, Metawatch has been able to keep operational costs at a minimum, and bring those savings directly back to their internet based clientele.

To protect its clients against industry product quality and supply issues Metawatch maintains strict quality standards and redundant supplier capabilities. This ensures the capability to provide product to its clients without interruption regardless of industry product availability or quality issues.

Marketing Contact Ken Flack - Metawatch
T: 450-612-
E: kflack@metawatch.ca
http://www.metwatch.ca

In the Matter of Certain Ink Cartridges and Components Thereof; Notice of Institution of Formal Enforcement Proceeding

May 07, 2008 (U.S. International Trade Commission Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- -- SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has instituted a formal enforcement proceeding relating to exclusion orders and cease and desist orders issued at the conclusion of the above-captioned investigation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Haldenstein, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW., Washington, DC 20436, telephone (202) 205-3041. Copies of all nonconfidential documents filed in connection with this investigation are or will be available for inspection during official business hours (8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.) in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20436, telephone 202-205-2000. General information concerning the Commission may also be obtained by accessing its Internet server (http://www.usitc.gov). The public record for this investigation may be viewed on the Commission's electronic docket (EDIS) at http://edis.usitc.gov/. Hearing-impaired persons are advised that information on the matter can be obtained by contacting the Commission's TDD terminal on 202-205-1810.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission instituted this investigation on March 23, 2006, based on a complaint filed by Epson Portland, Inc. of Oregon; Epson America, Inc. of California; and Seiko Epson Corporation of Japan (collectively "Epson"). 71 FR 14720 (March 23, 2006). The complaint, as amended, alleged violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 ("section 337") in the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain ink cartridges and components thereof by reason of infringement of claim 7 of U.S. Patent No. 5,615,957; claims 18, 81, 93, 149, 164 and 165 of U.S. Patent No. 5,622,439; claims 83 and 84 of U.S. Patent No. 5,158,377; claims 19 and 20 of U.S. Patent No. 5,221,148; claims 29, 31, 34 and 38 of U.S. Patent No. 5,156,472; claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 5,488,401; claims 1-3 and 9 of U.S. Patent No. 6,502,917; claims 1, 31 and 34 of U.S. Patent No. 6,550,902; claims 1, 10 and 14 of U.S. Patent No. 6,955,422; claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 7,008,053; and claims 21, 45, 53 and 54 of U.S. Patent No. 7,011,397. The complaint further alleged that an industry in the United States exists as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The complainants requested that the Commission issue a general exclusion order and cease and desist orders. The Commission named as respondents 24 companies located in China, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. Several respondents were terminated from the investigation on the basis of settlement agreements or consent orders or were found in default.

On March 30, 2007, the presiding ALJ (Judge Luckern) issued a final ID in the investigation finding a violation of section 337 with respect to certain respondents. He found the asserted claims valid and infringement by certain respondents' products. He recommended issuance of a general exclusion order and cease and desist orders directed to certain respondents and bond in the amount of $13.60 per cartridge during the Presidential review period.

On October, 19, 2007, after review, the Commission made its final determination in the investigation, finding a violation of section 337. The Commission issued a general exclusion order, limited exclusion order, and cease and desist orders directed to several domestic respondents. The Commission also determined that the public interest factors enumerated in 19 U.S.C. 1337(d), (f), and (g) did not preclude issuance of the aforementioned remedial orders, and that the bond during the Presidential review period would be $13.60 per cartridge for covered ink cartridges.

On February 8, 2008, complainant Epson filed two complaints seeking enforcement proceedings under Commission Rule 210.75. One complaint alleges that Ninestar Technology Co., Ltd.; Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd.; and Town Sky Inc. have violated the general exclusion order and that Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd. and Town Sky Inc. have violated the cease and desist orders directed to them. Epson's second complaint alleges that Mipo International Ltd. and Mipo America, Ltd. have violated the general and limited exclusion orders and that Mipo America, Ltd. has violated the cease and desist order directed to it.

Having examined the complaints seeking a formal enforcement proceeding, and having found that the complaints comply with the requirements for institution of a formal enforcement proceeding contained in Commission rule 210.75, the Commission has determined to institute a consolidated formal enforcement proceeding to determine whether the five respondents are in violation of the Commission's exclusion orders and cease and desist orders issued in the investigation, and what, if any, enforcement measures are appropriate.

The following entities are named as parties to the formal enforcement proceeding: (1) Complainant Epson, (2) respondents (Ninestar Technology Co., Ltd.; Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd.; Town Sky Inc.; Mipo America Ltd., and Mipo International, Ltd.) and (3) a Commission investigative attorney to be designated by the Director, Office of Unfair Import Investigations.

The authority for the Commission's determination is contained in section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), and in section 210.75 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 210.75).
Issued: May 1, 2008.
By order of the Commission.
Marilyn R. Abbott,
Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. E8-9984 Filed 5-6-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P
Notice.
Citation: "73 FR 25768"
Document Number: "Inv. No. 337-TA-565 Consolidated Enforcement Proceeding"
Federal Register Page Number: "25768"
"Notices"

'Father of the Inkjet' moves on

to Assume Presidency of Seiko Epson

Seiko Epson Corp announced April 30, 2008, that Managing Director Minoru Usui will be promoted to President of the company. The current president, Seiji Hanaoka, will assume the post of Chairman.

Hanaoka says, "Mr Usui will have complete authority and I will be responsible for part of overseas operations." According to Hanaoka, Usui, who will assume the presidency, is "the father of the Inkjet" and has been working for many years on the development of piezometric heads found in inkjet printers. The personnel proposal will be formally approved at the shareholders meeting scheduled on June 25 2008.

As part of the personnel change, the President will be replaced in the final year of the company's three-year medium-range business plan. Hanaoka explains the reason for the replacement as follows. "When I assumed the presidency, our two major businesses, the finished product business and electronic the device business, ceased to function properly. However, things started to improve. We are in the middle of the medium-range business plan, but now is the time to create a new domain identity. Usui, who has no equal when it comes to products and technologies, will be the most appropriate person for our goal.

Expressing his resolution, future President Usui, said, "We would like to focus on piezometric head technologies, projectors, crystal oscillators, organic ELs and high-precision processing technologies. Our products are slightly biased toward consumer products. We would like to further expand our business in the fields of business and industry. Seiko Epson has been growing on its unique technologies. It excels in technological development as well as in manufacturing. We will continue to grow on 'unique technology and unique manufacturing'."

Mr Usui, born April 22 1955, is 53 years old. After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering, he worked for a company related to ships for six months before joining Shinshu Seiki Co (now Seiko Epson Corp) in November 1979. He became Director in June 2002 and assumed the current post of Managing Director in October 2007. His motto is "Search for the Ultimate," which refers to the pursuit of the ultimate technology."

Usui was approached by Hanaoka in March 2008 regarding the promotion to President. "It was a bolt out of the blue," says Usui. "I am still 53. Part of me wanted to remain in the post of Chief Director of Production Technology Development a little longer," he confessed.

Ninestar Image Offers Patented Cartridges With New Version Chips

ZHUHAI, China — Ninestar Image Co. Ltd. released patented ink cartridges with new version chips, which are compatible for the full list of Epson Stylus printers including C92, D92, Dx8450, R290, Rx685, Rx690 and others.

Ninestar always stands in the forefront of technologies, providing its customers a real market advantage.The cartridges with new version chips can be used for the updated printers released by Epson from November 2007 and also work perfectly together with the OEM’s cartridges.

Ninestar has adopted a chip-inserted structure since last year, which makes replacing the chips convenient. With eco-saving and environmentally-friendly features, this kind of unique design greatly reduces costs for distributors and manufacturers.

ITC General Exclusion Order Upheld

President George W. Bush and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative allowed the 60-day Presidential Review Period to expire without modifying the General Exclusion Order by the U.S. International Trade Commission that bars all imports of infringing cartridges. As a result, the order is being actively enforced by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service.

The General Exclusion Order resulted from a complaint filed by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc., and the Seiko Epson Corp.against 24 of the largest aftermarket ink cartridge manufacturers and distributors. Following the Commission’s review of the trial results in which the ITC judge found that all 750 accused cartridges infringed one or more of Epson’s 11 patents, the ITC issued a General Exclusion Order that prohibits all imports of infringing cartridges and Cease and Desist Orders that prohibit the Respondent companies and their distributors from all sales of infringing cartridges. Epson has set up a Web site at http://itc.epson.com/ with further information to help ensure importers,distributors and retailers are not caught unaware regarding the consequences of violating the orders and continued infringement.

The General Exclusion Order and Cease and Desist Orders do not bar imports or resale of non-infringing cartridges, like non-infringing refilled cartridges. Resellers should be cautious, however, to avoid liability by noting the following legal parameters:

Legal Parameters

1) Refilling an infringing cartridge, like an infringing aftermarket cartridge, still results in another infringing cartridge.

2) Refilled cartridges that were Epson branded cartridges must have been first sold by Epson to consumers in the United States. A “first sale” exception to patent law allows the resale of refilled patented devices that were first sold in the United States by the patent holder. Cartridges that were first sold by Epson to consumers outside the United States and refilled by a third party still infringe Epson’s patents. Epson officials have observed that some suppliers commingle cartridges first sold by Epson in the United States with cartridges first sold to consumers outside the United States in identical packaging, so resellers cannot reliably avoid liability for patent infringement.

3) The refilling process must be limited to legally permissible repair to restore the cartridge to usable condition, but the cartridges cannot be completely reconstructed. Legally permissible repair includes refilling the ink, resetting the IC chip, removing or covering Epson labels, and repackaging.

4) Refilled cartridges must be prominently described at point of sale and on packaging as “refilled” or “remanufactured.” Any Epson trademarks must be removed so consumers cannot be misled into believing that the cartridges were refilled or approved by Epson.

“Epson is pleased that U.S. Customs is now effectively enforcingthe ITC Orders to prevent unfair competition,” said Elizabeth Leung, director of Consumer Supplies, Epson America Inc. “Distributors and retailers in every market channel can expect Epson to continue vigorous enforcement against any infringers who try to undermine the commendable efforts of all the resellers who compete fairly.”

Epson releases business inkjet printer in India

Epson announced the launch of the EPSON Stylus™ C110 single function printer. The new business inkjet is aimed specifically at business-users who need the high print speed and crisp black text quality of laser printers, but demand the affordability, accurate colour qualities and paper-type flexibility of inkjet printers.
Best value business proposition

“Laser printers are popular because of their high print speed, precision printouts for monochrome text, and high page yields – that are important for the modern business environment,” said Mr Ram Prasad, Business Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India. “However, for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprise) and SOHOs (Small Office Home Office), buying and operating laser printers also represent a hefty cost in terms of initial purchase, toner replacements, and energy consumption.”

He added, “On the other hand, inkjets are looked upon for their ability to produce life-like colours and efficient operating cost. Taking these into consideration, the EPSON Stylus™ C110 inkjet printer incorporates the best about laser printers at the attractive price of an affordable inkjet, thus offering the perfect value proposition to users with medium* print volume.”

Better prints and faster than an average laser printer!

Housed in an elegant black and silver case, the EPSON Stylus™ C110 boasts features and performance that match typical monochrome laser printers. The new inkjet zooms through black text prints at 25 ppm (pages per minute) in quality print mode, or at an incredible 37 ppm in draft mode, all without the long warm up delay apparent in laser printers. A4 colour prints are accomplished at speeds of 11ppm while draft 4R photos can be printed in as little as 49 seconds. Furthermore, utilising the new improved DURABrite Ultra inks ensure razor sharp text quality prints similar to the quality monochrome laser printers can produce.

Specific to the increasing need for colour printouts, users can now enjoy a glossy photo finish possible only on inkjet systems. Using the new improved DURABrite Ultra inks, users can expect the prints so durable that they last a lifetime. What’s more, only DURABrite Ultra inks can offer the combination of amazing fade, smudge and water resistance qualities needed in business environments.

Another unbeatable feature of using inkjets is the ability to print on a wide array of media including photo paper, photo stickers and CD sleeves while laser printers are normally limited to plain paper and envelopes

Epson Settles With 123inkjets.com

Epson has entered into a settlement agreement in its patent infringement lawsuit with one of the largest Internet retailers of aftermarket cartridges for Epson inkjet printers.

The settlement with E-Babylon Corp. dba 123inkjets.com and 411inkjets.com, a subsidiary of Valueclick Inc., resulted from a patent infringement lawsuit filed in June 2007 by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc., and Seiko Epson Corp. in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., against four resellers alleging infringement of a total of 18 patents that cover innovations in on-carriage cartridges for Epson desktop inkjet printers and off-carriage cartridges used in certain large format inkjet printers for graphic arts printing.

E-Babylon admitted infringement and enforceability of the patents and agreed to a permanent injunction that prohibits further infringements. Financial terms of the settlement were not releasedl.

Epson said “We commend E-Babylon for deciding to respect Epson’s patents and compete fairly,” said Elizabeth Leung, director, Consumer Supplies, Epson America Inc. “We will continue taking all necessary steps to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights and our investments in R&D against infringement and other unfair competition at every stage of the supply chain from manufacturing to distribution.”

Epson has taken aggressive measures worldwide to protect the company from unfair competition of all types, including a 10-year history of successful patent and trademark enforcement in the United States to protect its intellectual property rights relating to ink cartridges.

Most recently, Epson prevailed in a trial against 24 respondents accused of infringement in an ITC action. The judge made an Initial Determination that all cartridges accused in the case infringe Epson’s patents and recommended a General Exclusion Order that bars all imports of such infringing cartridges.

The ITC has issued a Final Determination on regarding the judge’s recommendations.

Epson has set up a web site at http://itc.epson.com to provide importers and resellers with timely information about the ITC action and orders.

The respondents in the ITC case are believed to supply most of the cartridges sold by the defendants in Epson’s latest lawsuit.

Epson anticipates that it may have to file additional lawsuits against retailers to limit unfair competition and assure the payment of any damages because some ITC respondents are continuing sales to U.S. retailers while limiting their direct presence in the U.S. and not actively defending the ITC action.

Epson strikes back as Ink Sales suffer

Epson strikes back at Calidad inks as Ink Sales suffer

"Tests show Calidad inks not suitable for printing photographs" screamed the headline from an Epson press release.Third party ink suppliers are estimated to be at approximately 30% of after market ink cartridge sales, printer manufacturers like Epson are waging a PR war against cut price competitors.

Razor Blade Model

As most consumers of inkjet printers probably know, printing manufacturers like Epson, Lexmark, HP, Canon that most inkjets now sold are more or less disposable products retailing at ridiculously low prices where they recoup their costs woth overpriced inkjet cartridges. Similar things are happening in the emerging color laser printer space.

3rd Part Inks Thrive

There is a healthy and growing market for third party ink suppliers which sell replacement ink cartridges significantly below the prices of OEM cartridges. This has the effect of eating into the after market ink sales of printing manufacturers and it also lengthens the printer replacement cycle as consumers will tend to keep printers longer if they can source reasonably priced ink refills.

Political Wars

Faced with a challenge to their business models by third party after market ink sales, OEM suppliers are becoming more aggressive in their anti-third party rhetoric.Epson warned against the use of third party inks in its printers with the release of "independent test results" which purport to show that one of Australia and New Zealand's best known third-party ink brands, Calidad, has one of the poorest results for print life ever measured.

Epson Claims

"The Calidad ink cartridges appear to contain low-stability dye-based substitutes for Epson high-stability DURABrite pigment inks. The Calidad inks have poor resistance to atmospheric ozone that may be present in homes and offices, and the Calidad inks also give up waterfastness when printed on plain paper," Mr Wilhelm said.

"When Epson users see these results they should be in no doubt that using third party inks in their Epson printers will lead to rapid fading and loss of their precious photographs," Epson's Marketing Communications Director, Mike Pleasants said.

"I am sure that no parents would want to give or receive as a gift a framed photograph of treasured children, friends or relatives, or that special occasion, that can suffer significant fading in less than a year," Pleasants said.

3rd Party Manufacturers fight back

Despite the claims from Epson, however, the third party market has hit back with its own report which refutes any suggestions that third party ink products are inferior to the more expensive OEM products.

A new survey by Lyra Research and published in Recharger Magazine revealed that

48% of respondents who had used non-OEM supplies said that they have never had a problem with a non-printer-brand cartridge.
6% have had many problems, defined as more than 10 percent of the time, and
44% have had “just a few problems,” defined as less than 10% of the time.

Overall, 93% of color laser printer users and 92% of color inkjet users said they either have had no problems with aftermarket cartridges or have had “just a few” problems, according to the survey.

An insiders peek at the inkjet market

Manufacturers

The top manufacturers of inkjet printers are

Epson, Canon, HP, Dell, Lexmark, and Brother

The inkjet market can be further divided into the cartridge technologies utilized.

Fixed Head with Removable Cartridge.

The print head is a permanent fixture of the printer and is not removable. Cartridges are simply plastic repositories with (electronic registers) for remaining ink measurement.
(Canon and Epson printers fall into this category)

Disposable Head/Cartridge assemblies

The print head is part of the ink cartridge assembly, and is replaced as part of a new cartridge. (Dell, HP, and Lexmark Printers fall into this category.)
Note: HP is transitioning to a fixed head philosophy in many of its newer printer model lines.

Advantages / Disadvantages

(Print Head Replacement)
Although many have said that there is an advantage to replacing the print head assembly with each cartridge change, we, as ink distributors have never seen any degradation in print quality of printers from Canon or Epson printers even after many years of operation

(Third Party Generic Cartridges)
Third party generic Cartridges are only available for printers using a fixed print head. All third party cartridges are simply plastic repositories with (electronic registers) for remaining ink measurement. As this is the area where most cost savings can be identified, we recommend that your selection of printer manufacturer be limited to Canon or Epson.

(Remanufactured Cartridges)
There is a significant third party market that exists for the purposes of Re-cycling integrated Print Head/Cartridge assemblies. They clean and electronically test each re-manufactured cartridge for re-sale. Unfortunately these cartridges suffer from a higher overall reject/failure rate versus that of a new cartridge, and offer little savings versus that of a new original cartridge. These cartridges can be found for the HP, Lexmark, and Dell printers.

Our Recommendations

As we are all aware that the printer manufacturers all follow a Business Strategy first adoptedby Gillette. Offer a product (Razor Handles) at little or no cost and charging a higher rate of return for replacement parts (Razor Blades).

The printer manufactures do the same, offer their printers at cost or below, and then maximize profits via the sale of inkjet replacement cartridges.

You can beat the manufactures at their own game by ensuring that you select a printer/model that offers 3rd party replacement cartridges where you can purchase replacement cartridges at approximately 60%-75% less than New OEM cartridges.

I.E. A full set of replacement cartridges for Canon or Epson Printers are in the order of $22-$32 cdn.

A replacement set of OEM cartridges for an HP printer are in the Order of $80.00.

What if you already have an HP or Lexmark Printer?

Believe it or not we recommend that you purchase a NEW replacement printer (Canon, or Epson) that offer 3rd party cartridge capability.

Yes, that right, you can purchase a New replacement printer, in most cases for less than you can purchase replacement cartridges for an HP, Lexmark, or Dell printer.

Not only do you get a new printer, but the new printer comes with a set of inkjet cartridges (Although normally partially filled).

Typically you can purchase a new Photo or Multifunction printer with Cartridges from Canon or Epson for less than the cost of a set of cartridges from HP, Lexmark or Dell.

I.E. Future Shop has weekly sales for printers such as


Epson All-In-One Multifunction Centre (CX4200)



Curently selling for $69.99 cdn after rebates.






Conclusion

If you have the capability to purchase a new Canon or Epson printer On Sale from a reputable supplier that is supported by 3rd party Inkjet cartridge manufacturers, you will reap the benefits of lower costs cartridges by anywhere from 60-75% savings per purchase.

In effect, you will have saved the cost of the new printer purchase after the first set of cartridges purchased.

Supplementary Information

What are the third party cartridges and models supported for Canon and Epson Printers?

Canon

Epson

Would you like to find more information out about printer designs and function?

Inkjet Printers demystified

Note: All numeric representations of savings were accurate at the time of publication. As prices are subject to change without notice we can not guarantee these statements will hold true forward in time.

All coments in this blog are personal opinions only and should not in any way be representated as fact(s) or as a statement by Metawatch with respect to product and or quality of independant product suppliers.