On June 21, the Imaging Supplies Coalition (ISC) announced the election of a new chairman of its board of directors and three new officers. Founded in 1994, the ISC is a non-profit organization of printer OEMs that fights illegal activities such as fraud and counterfeiting in the imaging supplies industry. The current roster of member
Seiko Epson Corporation, Epson America, and Epson Portland (collectively Epson) have filed two more patent-infringement lawsuits accusing online aftermarket cartridge sellers of infringing Epson’s U.S. patents 6,502,917 (’917) and 8,794,749 (’749). This brings the total number of lawsuits that Epson has filed since November 2016 over this pair of patents to 10. The two latest
Just three days after being issued a seizure-and-forfeiture order by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for violating one of HP’s general exclusion orders (GEOs), Inksac Corp. was handed a second such order for violating one of Epson’s GEOs. As we reported last week, on June 13, the ITC issued Inksac a seizure-and-forfeiture order for
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has decided to institute an advisory opinion proceeding to determine whether certain Ninestar remanufactured inkjet cartridges are outside the scope of the general exclusion orders (GEOs) and cease-and-desist orders awarded to Epson in the 337-TA-565 and 337-TA-946 investigations. Ninestar Image Tech Ltd., Ninestar Technology Company, Ltd., and Apex Microtech
On June 9, International Data Corporation (IDC) released its customary summary of data from its “Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.” The company had good news to report. In the first quarter of 2017, worldwide shipments of hardcopy peripherals (printers, copiers, MFPs) grew for the second straight quarter. In Q1, worldwide hardcopy peripheral shipments were up 1.2
On June 9, Apex Microelectronics announced a new OEM chip resetting solution for Epson WorkForce inkjet all-in-one models sold in Europe and Japan. These Epson devices use cartridges featuring a new generation of Epson chips. Apex’s Unismart chip resetting solution allows customers to reuse an OEM chip in a refilled or remanufactured cartridge and avoid
Selling infringing products online at sites like Amazon can cost you, even if you elect not to defend yourself in any litigation filed. That’s a key takeaway from Epson’s lawsuit against Century21 Electronics. After a default judgment was issued in the case, Epson subpoenaed sales records from Amazon and is now asking the court to
At the end of April and throughout the first half of May, printer and copier OEMs reported quarterly financial results for the three-month period ended on March 31, 2017. For all the Japanese OEMs, except Canon, this period also marked the end of their fiscal year. For Canon and Xerox, this period was the first
In April, we reported that the Ninestar group of companies had asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for an advisory opinion determining that the company’s remanufactured inkjet cartridges are outside the scope of the general exclusion orders (GEOs) and cease-and-desist orders awarded to Epson in the 337-TA-565 and 337-TA-946 investigations (see “Apex and Ninestar
Last week, International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that in the first quarter of 2017 the hardcopy peripheral market (printers and MFPs) in India grew year-over-year for the first time in six quarters. In Q1, shipments of printers and MFPs in the region grew 0.5 percent year-over-year to 799,164 units, which IDC stated was in line
