Epson battles the aftermarket compatibles and wins

[Yianni]

Court Rules PrintRite Brand Remanufactured Cartridges Infringe Epson's
Patents
According to a news release from Epson, a federal judge has issued a summary
judgment ruling in a patent infringement lawsuit against Multi-Union Trading
Co. Ltd. that decisively holds that the defendant's ink cartridges infringe
Epson's patents. The lawsuit was brought in April 2001 in Portland, Ore., by
Epson America Inc., Epson Portland Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. against
Multi-Union Trading Co. Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the
world's largest manufacturers of aftermarket ink cartridges. The infringing
cartridges are often sold in the United States under the PrintRite brand and
in generic packaging.

Rejecting the defendant's arguments of non-infringement and patent
invalidity, the Court found that 23 models of cartridges sold for use in
Epson printers infringe Epson's principal patent claims.

However, according to Associated Press reports, the judge did not order that
the inkjet cartridges made by Print-Rite Holdings, Multi-Union Trading Co.
and Dynamic Print USA Inc. be removed from the market. Instead, a trial is
scheduled for September on several defenses against the claims and a request
for monetary damages made by Epson.

A cursory review of the decision reveals that the Court found that patented
technology for dot matrix printers also includes inkjet printing technology,
as Epson had argued.

 

[Shooter]

Perhaps people should stop buying Epson otherwise we will end up with the
same problem as with the latest Canon's. If their market share drops they
will soon relent, of course the printer price will then increase. Buy lots
of third party Epson carts while you can.

 

[measekite]

Perhaps people should stop buying Epson otherwise we will end up with the
same problem as with the latest Canon's. If their market share drops they
will soon relent, of course the printer price will then increase. Buy lots
of third party Epson carts while you can.

Oh Yeah and drive Epson out of business. Then drive Canon and HP out of
business. Well now you can go back to the dark ages with no printers.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I haven't read the specific ruling and I don't know which patents Epson
was attempting to protect, however, here's a official quote from Epson
back when the original suit was filed:

"This lawsuit is part of Epson's worldwide effort to protect the company

and its customers from unfair competition of all sorts, including the sale
of patent-infringing ink cartridges under third-party brands, as in this
case, and the sale of outright counterfeit ink cartridges sold under the
Epson brand, in other cases."

I'm so glad Epson is protecting all of us, aren't you?

I tend to suspect the Judges in these cases do not fully understand the
nature of the game being played in these suits. Many of the "patented
features" that Epson and other inkjet companies have introduced in the
designs of their printers and cartridges, may indeed be unique but often
the "features" they provide are secondary to the main purpose, which is
to make the printer non-functional with cartridges which do not have the
"patented feature".

Therefore, the 3rd party company simply cannot exclude those "features"
without making the cartridge non-functional with the printer.

Until the defense does a better job of being able to enlighten the
judiciary of this, they will continue to lose these cases, in spite of
it allowing what is basically a monopolistic market position for the
inkjet manufacturer's ink cartridges.

Art

 

[measekite]

I haven't read the specific ruling and I don't know which patents
Epson was attempting to protect, however, here's a official quote from
Epson back when the original suit was filed:


and its customers from unfair competition of all sorts, including the
sale
of patent-infringing ink cartridges under third-party brands, as in this
case, and the sale of outright counterfeit ink cartridges sold under the
Epson brand, in other cases."

I'm so glad Epson is protecting all of us, aren't you?

Absolutely. If there was not Epson or Canon or HP you could refill
nothing to print nothing.

 

[SMS]

Oh Yeah and drive Epson out of business. Then drive Canon and HP out of
business. Well now you can go back to the dark ages with no printers.

There were printers before Epson, Canon, and HP.

I worked for a printer company in the early 1980's, and we actually
manufactured the printers in the U.S.. I still have one in my garage.

Long live the Diablo 630. Even back then, the big money was in supplies
(printwheels and ribbons), not in the actual printer. The printwheels
cost about 10 cents to manufacture, and sold for about $6. The ribbons
probably cost about 50 cents to manufacture and also sold for about $6.
Both were patented. Both were routinely infringed.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

There were printers before Epson, Canon, and HP.

And there still are. Star Micronics, Mannesmann Tally (now Tally Genicom),
Okidata, Brother, IBM/Lexmark, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp and others still
make printers--even some impact versions--to this day. There are others that
I haven't mentioned.

Even Dataproducts is still around (at least in name) and selling replacement
toner/ink. Until recently I still had one of their (positively HUGE)
dot-matrix printers...color capable and all. It still worked well...the only
real pain was changing the inked ribbon.

Quite honestly, I think it is stupid that the printer companies take this
attitude toward aftermarket ink. I use both aftermarket and OEM and have had
some trouble with each. Likewise, I've had good results with both.

William