Friday, November 09, 2007

Epson makes move to stop ink cartridge competition

For the last few months, Epson has been busy in federal court and with the US International Trade Commission.  They’ve been filing lawsuits to stop third-parties from making “aftermarket” ink cartridges—those are the non-Epson brand cartridges you can buy in many retail stores and on the Internet.  In a bit of a surprise to observers, Epson is winning these patent-infringement cases, and the defendents are promising to stop the production and/or import of non-Epson cartridges for Epson printers.

There are going to be many unfortunate implications for consumers because of these lawsuits.  The most obvious is that consumers will have to spend more money for brand-name ink cartridges.  The second implication is for artists who use Epson’s printers with special inks for photo printing or dye sublimation; they may not be able to stay in business.  Epson printers are unique because their printheads are ideal for working with special dyes used in heat presses, and lightfast inks for professional photographers.  These inks are not manufactured by Epson, and along with printer modifications like Continuous Ink Systems, are some of the products which have been banned by Epson’s lawsuits.

Lexmark lost a similar case against a third-party manufacturer a few years ago, but they didn’t claim patent infringement.  Patent violations are the basis of Epson’s lawsuits, and the argument seems to be working.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/09 at 01:47 PM
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