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RechargEast Magazine has opened the subscription for the electronic version* of the magazine. The new electronic version is published online at www.rechargeast.com two weeks after the printed version is sent to subscribers.

Get subscribed and be in the know about the developments of the local aftermarket of printing supplies in Eastern Europe and Russia. In RechargEast Magazine you will find:

• news from the leading local remanufacturers and distributors;
• profiles of local companies;
• technical and marketing articles;
• opinions from technical specialists and managers.
• facts about the market development and trends.

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RechargEast Magazine is your best source of information from Eastern Europe and Russia!

*The electronic version of RechargEast Magazine is published in .pdf format online two weeks after the publication and distribution of the printed version. The .pdf file will be available at www.rechargeast.com and will be protected by a password known only to subscribers.

RechargEast University was opened in Varna, Bulgaria, on August 10.

The traditional summer school organized by RechargEast Magazine started its course in Bulgarian on Aug. 10. The one-week course taught in Bulgarian gathered technical specialists from 9 Bulgarian companies dealing with remanufacturing of laser and inkjet cartridges and printer repair service.


The course focuses on the most popular models of MFPs and copiers. A separate part of the course is dedicated to cartridge remanufacturing. Here are some of the topics being discussed during this week in Varna, the venue of the course:

>> Toshiba 1550 and Canon iR series of copiers
>> Brother HL2030 printer and its service
>> Konica 7020 copiers
>> Xerox Work Centre 320/420 copiers
>> Hewlett Packard LaserJet P1005/1006 series printers
>> Repairs and service of Samsung SCX 4200/4300 MFPs
>> Lexmark E120, Samsung CLP 315/Xerox 6110, Hewlett Packard DeskJet D1400 series printers.

The course will end on Aug. 14. All the participants will be awarded a certificate issued by RechargEast Magazine.

Web: www.rce-university.com

Epson sued in California for trespass and trade secret misappropriation

On July 27, 2009, Green Project, a environmentally dedicated entrepreneurial company that recycles ink and toner cartridges, filed a suit against Epson America Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp.

The suit alleges unfair competition, seeks a declaratory judgment for non-infringement of Epson's patents, accuses the Japanese-headquartered conglomerate of trade secret misappropriation and trespass, and denies Epson's allegation of patent infringement.

Green Project from Los Angeles was added on June 18 to a lawsuit filed by Epson earlier this year. Epson's suit is against a group of suppliers that make "compatible" after-market inkjet cartridges that work with Epson printers, and who also recycle Epson's cartridges. Green Project does not make compatibles; it only recycles original inkjet cartridges.

Joseph Wu, president of Green Project, explained, "We are puzzled by Epson's corporate policy of punishing recyclers of used inkjet cartridges, companies that provide critically needed environmental benefits for everyone."

The counter-suit against Epson is being pursued by Green Project not only to gain relief from the patent infringement case against the defendants, but also to seek damages against Epson and one of its employees, who is accused of surreptitiously gaining access to Green Project's premises and to the company's competitive business information by pretending to be a potential customer.

Source: www.greenprojectinc.com

Key words: Epson, trial, Green Project, remanufacturer, inkjet

Hit the jack-pot with HP: a new campaign in Latin America

HP is now running a campaign in Latin America to attract the local customer to buy more HP original cartridges. The campaign does also mean to discredit the advantage of alternative printing solutions. The website in Spanish targeting local users explains that remanufactured products are nothing but waste of time, ink and paper and that remanufactured cartridges may damage printing equipment.

HP also offers some statistical information to compare the advantages of the original cartridges vs. non-genuine ones.
In terms of volume, original HP cartridges print 119% more pages than generic brand cartridges. In terms of reliability, HP cartridges give 0.0% of failure, whereas generic cartridges: 29.2%, and refilled cartridges: 41.8% average failure rate.

Besides the "frightening" information, HP offers users to take part in the Jackpot game. By buying genuine cartridges users can find a promo code on the box. After introducing the code, they can create accounts, play the game and, if lucky, get pricy prizes. The game can be found at the website www.hp.com/la/jackpot . The promotion targets consumers in Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

This campaign is the second of the type, which have taken place recently. We already mentioned the one in Oceania. HP seems to be testing the campaign in strategically less important regions, before putting it out at a larger scale.

Key words: HP, ad campaign, Latin America, cartridges, inks, remanufacturing

MB200 MFP from Oki

Oki announced the release of its new MB200 series of MFPs (multifunction products), which are designed for home offices and small workgroups. The MB200 MFP series includes the MB260, MB280 and MB290. The new printers feature monochrome printing and copying with color or mono scanning; fax capability is standard on the MB280 and MB290.

The MB200 MFP series offers a wireless LAN option, allowing workgroups to print, scan or fax from a PC from anywhere in the office. All models have a front USB port from which you can scan to or print from a USB flash drive. The MB280 and MB290 come with a 50-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), and include e-mail and address-book maintenance via a QWERTY keyboard. The MB290 includes the ability to scan files directly to e-mail or network for sharing and archiving; Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support for access to corporate email directories (MB290), PCL/PostScript functionality, and network connectivity are all standard.

The duty cycle for the new MFPs is 10,000 pages per month. High-capacity 5,500-page toner cartridges are available on all models. Oki says the MB200 MFP series will be available in August at the recommended price of $250.

Key words: Oki, new printers, MFPs, color laser printer

How Kyocera will fight aftermarket products

Kyocera informed that it had made up a scheme to win share back from sales of what it calls ‘non-genuine’ toner. The company said it wanted to encourage partners to sell more Kyocera toner instead of cheaper alternative one.

“Kyocera has created a consumables direct partner program with the main aim to reward Kyocera’s direct partners who distribute genuine quality toner manufactured by Kyocera,” said Charlotte Elmer, consumables and spares manager at Kyocera. She added: “We want to ensure that end users are buying genuine Kyocera consumables, and therefore not compromising the quality of their Kyocera product.”

According to the newly-developed plan, Kyocera will reward its direct partners for promoting toner made by Kyocera. Resellers will get access to various marketing initiatives, such as support, sales management, new promotions, and lead generation.

Kyocera's rep continued: “We have a strong process in place to deal with non-genuine product and the companies associated with this trading. We hope by getting partners on board, we can continue to sell genuine toner and see a growth in our consumables business in the forthcoming quarter.”

Key words: Kyocera, aftermarket, non-genuine

RechargRussia Expo 2009 held successfully in Moscow!

From July 15 to 17, 2009, the new edition of RechargRussia Expo took place in Moscow, Russia. The expo is the most significant and outstanding event in the aftermarket of imaging supplies in Russia and CIS countries. For local cartridge remanufacturing companies, distributors of printing supplies and service centers the show has become the traditional meeting point important for finding serious and reliable suppliers, for acquiring practical hands-on skills and for learning the latest news from the industry. The exhibition was hosted by the prestigious Building of the Moscow Government. Its reputation, venue and growth of the remanufacturing industry in the region made the expo a huge success.

Attracting visitors from the regions of the Russian Federation and CIS countries, the expo also gathers well-known international companies willing to penetrate local markets through local partners, promote its products and meet potential and existing customers. Therefore, the show is so popular with Asian and West European manufacturers and distributors of parts, supplies and raw material. This year 46 companies from 12 countries took an active part in the exhibition as exhibitors. The prevailing number of the participants came from China (21 companies); 11 companies from Russia followed; Germany had 3 companies; the USA and Turkey were represented by 2 companies each; companies from Ukraine, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Bulgaria, Japan, Korea were also amongst the exhibitors. The product range offered by the exhibitors covered almost all segments of the aftermarket of imaging supplies: supplies (parts, toner, ink), ready-for-sale no-logo cartridges, chips, packaging solutions, etc.


The organizers of the expo registered over 2400 visits during the 3 exhibition days, the most important being the first two days. The visitors came from 21 countries. The great majority of the visitors represented Russia. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan were also heavily presented at the show. Companies from the Baltic states, Moldova, Poland, Germany, Georgia, Armenia were also visiting the Moscow show. Drawing a general conclusion about the visitors' profile, the result is: 95% of them represented the aftermarket industry (management and technical personnel), the rest being mainly from large companies or forwarding agencies.

The educational technical program of the 2009 show consisted of a practical course on remanufacturing and repairing the most popular models of color and monochrome printers (based on Samsung and HP models). Besides it, the two-day course include a short intro and a detailed overview of service techniques for Konica Minolta copiers.

The expo also hosted an international networking VIP forum, which gathered managers and owners of local and foreign companies. During the 4-hour presentation and question-answer sessions organized by the U.S.-based company Raven, a lot of questions touching upon the local markets were discussed and given answers to.

At the market level, the presentation of local companies about the state of the market drew a particular attention. According to the statistical information the local aftermarket is growing despite the severe economic crisis in the region. The explanation to it lies in the fact that in the price-sensitive markets (Russia and CIS countries) users do not cut on printing habits, but they cut on the price for printing supplies by switching to more cost-efficient alternative supplies.



In the opinion of a large majority of the exhibitors, the expo was successful. As many participants mentioned, it exceeded expectations in terms of target visitors. Visitors were also glad to have so many various suppliers offering competing products at accessible prices.

Carlos Cardona,Uninet, USA: We believe that the Russian market has a lot of potential, especially the color printing segment. The same trend has been seen in Americas during the last 5-6 years. So, we are very enthusiastic about the market and we will definitely come here next year.

Pavel Starikov, MVKP, RUSSIA: It was our first expo. We are very excited about it, especially after finding new prospects and perspective clients.

Stanislav Malinsky, Business-Inform, RUSSIA: We are happy to have been invited to participate. We've got 200 new contacts during the expo. We are glad to get in touch with companies from the regions and other countries, like Ukraine and Belarus.

Oleg Sharyghin, Digital Systems, RUSSIA: Our participation in the expo gave us the possibility to further develop our partners' network in the country. The expo met all our expectations.

Cao Guozhu, Zhuhai Printmax, CHINA: We came to the exhibition to find reliable local partners. To us the Russian market is really huge, and we will explore it carefully.

WWM, UKRAINE: Participation in RechargRussia Expo 2009 is a very important event for our company, which is over 15 years in the business of printing supplies manufacturing and distribution. At the show we had a great chance to present our products to the Russian market. We met a lot of perspective partners and had multiple fruitful discussions.

Yurii Egorov, Lintek, RUSSIA: The exhibition was a success. We liked the first two days when it was packed with visitors. We believe the expo will have a promising future.

About RechargRussia Expos:
RechargRussia expos are organized by RechargEast and RechargRussia Magazines, published in English and Russian and focused on the cartridge remanufacturing industry in Eastern Europe and Russia. The expos are held annually in Moscow.

www.rechargrussiaexpo.com

How Xerox goes green

Green solutions offered by a company to its customers is a good way to show the eco-advantages. Another good way bring in good dividends with the public opinion would be the green practices adapted by the company in its office and manufactures.

Following this logic, Xerox employees around the world initiated twenty projects meant to help the company make waste and energy savings. As a result, Xerox saved $7.3 million, eliminate 1.3 million pounds of waste and reduce energy use by 500,000 kilowatt hours.

Here are some of the examples of Xerox green practices:

The Webster Consumables Manufacturing Plant in Webster, New York, found ways to reuse or recycle much of the packaging that came with incoming parts, including 800,000 foam sheets, 200,000 pieces of tag board, 60,000 plastic bags, 57,000 corrugated cartons and 6,900 plastic skids.

A team in Wilsonville, Ore., USA, made the cleaning process faster, made it more environmentally responsible, eliminated 400 pounds of landfill waste a year and cut labor costs by $37,000 by using an alternative material for equipment cleaning.

A project from Venray, Netherlands, replaced an old chilled water system with one that uses ammonia, a natural refrigerant, which reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 130,000 kg in six months. The
project is expected to also reduce energy use by 300,000 kilowatt hours a year and save $15,000 a year.

A Rio, Brazil, team replaced one-time use cloths with washable cloths, replaced metal barrels with reusable bags, started composting cafeteria waste and found a new use for the more than 10 tons of toner waste it generates, sending the toner to be used as product for roadways.

Source: www.greenbiz.com

Key words: Xerox, green practices, environment

Lexmark to follow HP’s touch screen printers

Lexmark was quick enough to react to HP’s Photosmart Premium printers feature the hit touchscreen technology. The company announced the launch of 8 web-connected all-in-one printers coming with 4.3” screens. According to what Lexmark said in the press- release about the new models equipped with touch screens, the company believes touch screens are a must for all all-in-one printers and the company will support this trend.

The main difference between Lexmark and HP touchscreened printers is that HP targets home users fond of stylish and well-designedall-in-ones, whereas Lexmark (with its MyTouch technology) focuses on
corporate clients. But the entry level systems used in the new Lexmark printers put them in the same range with HP touch screeners.

Aside from conventional features like ID card copy and RSS feeds, the new Lexmark printers come standard with innovative features, which include:

Vizix Print Technology enhancing speed and print quality. The technology is based on separate ink cartridges used in dependence of the user’s current printing needs;

WiFi 802.11n networks connect printer in wireless mode;

Power saving Eco Mode allows printing on both sides of the paper sheet;

Business card Scan can load the information from scanned business cards into the user’s address book;

Lexmark informed these printers will be in the USD199-399 range and will hit markets in September, 2009.

Picture from www.gadgetreview.com

Key words: Lexmark, touchscreen printers, new products, all-in-one

Results of RechargRussia Expo 2009

Last Friday, July 17, the 2009 edition of RechargRussia Expo was successfully completed. During the 3 exhibition days the organizers registered 2400 visits. The visitors came from 21 countries, mainly from the CIS countries. The number of the exhibiting companies and their partners was over 50.

In the participants’ and visitors’ opinion, the expo was a success and it even exceeded expectations. “In the conditions of the global economic crisis we have not expected such an interest to the industry and so many visitors from Russia and abroad,”, - said the exhibitors we had chance to speak with during the exhibition.

The detailed overview of the exhibition with the participants’ opinions will be available in the coming issues of RechargRussia and RechargEast Magazines and online at www.rechargrussiaexpo.com.

See you at RechargRussia Expo 2010!

Key words: RechargRussia Expo 2009, Moscow

RechargRussia Expo 2009 - DAY II

The 2nd exhibition day turned to be not only productive. It proved that the Russian market of office and home printing is in a constant growth despite the economic crisis, which hit the global economy last year. But let's see the details of what have happened today...


Traditionally, the second exhibition day is the most important, full of various events and heavily visited. That was the case of all the former expos, that was the case today, July 16. In addition to yesterday's visitors we met a lot of specialists coming from the outside of Moscow. They came from Tomsk, Izhevsk, Yekaterinburg as well as from Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania and Kazakhstan. Coming from so far and having limited time to spend, such visitors had to hurry all over the expo floor to be able to go over all the booths, visit the seminars and take part in the VIP forum. By the way, the forum is worth being mentioned separately.


RechargRussia Expos are not only about exhibiting products, they are also about knowledge sharing. The VIP forum organized within the expo today gathered the key people from the local and international companies present at the exhibition. The main question of What to expect from the aftermarket of imaging supplies in Russia and abroad? was touched upon. The forum was sponsored by the U.S.-based company RAVEN, which offered to create a friendly and comforting atmosphere for the participants to have a detailed and open discussion. And the discussion was there. The presenters coming from OCP, Raven, Uninet gave their standpoints about the state of matters at the printing market globally and in their countries. The speech of Stanislav Malinsky from Business-Inform, the leading market research agency in the field in Russia, was a real hit. Stanislav provided statistical information about the market of laser printing in Russia and gave some conclusions based on the data. According to his words, the local market is not in stagnation - it continues growing despite all financial difficulties the local consumer may be facing. The data were a real find for the participants.


At the same time the seminar rooms were living their own life: the technical hands-on seminars about cartridge remanufacturing techniques and methods was overcrowded with technicians willing to get new skills or discuss the most urgent issues with others. In the neighboring seminar rooms were held presentations about toner and its manufacturing.

According to the opinions expressed by a number of exhibitors, the expo is an interesting and useflu event. After the first two days the impressions are: OCP from Germany is content with the new contacts they made; the Korean Park & OPC also confirmed the company got some perspective contacts; and the Chinese Menston, manufacturer of inkjet cartridges, told they would probably need to switch to laser cartridges due to the information they got at the expo from the visitors, presenters and other exhibitors in Moscow. The exhibitors and visitors were also satisfied immensely with the new venue of the exhibition. This tells that the organizers had made a good choice coming to the Moscow Government building to hold this year's expo here.

The second exhibition day was fresh and successful in spite of the hot Moscow weather. Tomorrow the expo will be drawing to its close.

Key words: RechargRussia Expo 2009, Moscow

RechargRussia Expo 2009 - DAY I

From the early morning on July 15 groups of people were seen to enter the building of the Moscow Government: some of them had nothing to carry, other had heavy baggage in the hand. There were just a couple of minutes left till the expo began...Everybody was in a hurry to get to the exhibition floor and cast a last eye at the booth to be able to see and eliminate all drawbacks and inconveniences or add some attractive details. The exhibitors were in place and they were expecting the first visitors to show up. By 9 am the registration was ready with piles of badges and advertising packs expecting again the first visitor to be seen. We were all waiting for the show to begin...And it began at 10 am. The first visitors came to the registration desk and, then, continued to the exhibition hall with the exhibition guide in the hand to lead them through.



The first-day visitors had to face a lot of choice: over 50 companies representing all the segments of the aftermarket of printing supplies were there to exhibit their products. Chip fiends were able to see the newly developed products from local and international manufacturers. Companies needing spare parts, toner and inks could freely browse through the multiple booths of exhibitors and get to know the product range, delivery conditions and prices of each manufacturer or distributor. Besides the "pure" supplies, visitors could see ready-for-use compatible cartridges and refilling machines as well as get to know the latest packaging solutions. The exhibitors were eager to show their latest and newest products to attract local visitors, who come from 9 countries (according to the registration information for the first day).

Touring around the booths during the first exhibition day we were amused by the great number of Chinese companies present at the expo. But there is no surprise in it since the Chinese government is heavily subsidizing every single perspective industry and the printing industry is one of them. The subsidies go as far as to cover trip expenses for a company taking part in a leading exhibition. But politics aside...We can just say that the Chinese companies are really topping the number of the exhibitors. They take over not by their power, but the quantity. Their quality is remarkable, too, as the visitors and competition confessed.


Whereas the Chinese companies tend to cover a wide range of products, the European and U.S. companies, taking part in the expo, focus their effort on specific market niches. The visitors could see this trend after visiting the booths of the companies from Germany, the USA, Turkey.


The Russian and CIS exhibitors were also in the highlight. They surprised the public by their innovative products and breakthrough equipment responding to the local market's needs.


In the afternoon the educational program started. The seminar room were all filled by people thirsty of new theoretical and practical knowledge.

In a nutshell, the first exhibition day was very successful!

In the end, let' s give some statistical data: over 500 people visited the first exhibition day. In addition, over 100 representatives of the exhibiting companies were also pre-registered. With these on July 15 the exhibition floor hosted people from 18 countries, from 3 continents.

The expo has begun and there are two more hot days ahead! We will be glad to see you there too!

Key words: RechargRussia Expo 2009, Moscow

July'09 Issue of RechargEast

READ IN THE JULY'09 ISSUE:

» Remanufacturing the Samsung ML-4550/4551 Toner Cartridge
» Konica Minolta Bizhub 130f – the Heart of Your Office (Part 1)

» Solid Foundations, Great Flexibility

» What Does the Crisis Have in Store for the Printing Market?
» Printers Market is Slowing Down
» Spotlight on Zhuhai – The World Capital of Printer Consumables

Full page e-version of the magazine is also available here:

Download the JULY'09 issue.

Key words: remanufacturing in Eastern Europe, chips, cartridges, toner, inks, compatible cartridges, inkjet, supplies, markets

Think Zink

Zink, known for its innovative inkless printing technology, decided to address its fans to design new models of the printing equipment with the zink technology inside.

In the beginning the inkless Zink (zink = zero ink) was considered as a breakthrough novelty promising reduced expenses on printing ink. Once the new zink was in place, embedding it in gadgets turned to be a challenge. To solve the issue the company launched its Zero Boundaries contest earlier in 2009, challenging product designers to create new designs. The winners were promised cash rewards totaling $25,000.

Of the submitted designs there are some worth paying attention to. For instance, a Zink pad looking like a notebook, but being a printer. Or small plastic gadgets you can put in the pocket, carry around and use whenever need for printing arises.

Such contest when companies ask the general public to do their work is not new. But in this case the quality of the presented designs is great. To have a look at the finalists and vote for one of them, internet users can access this webpage: http://zinkzeroboundaries.com/vote.html. The voting is done through July 13.

Key words: Zink, design, new printers

Konica Minolta doubles sales in 3 years

In its press interview Konica Minolta stated it is aiming to double sales of its digital commercial printers in 3 years and reach the turnover value of USD2 billion. To attain the goal the company is extending its product line. Moreover, the company is reinforcing its presence in emerging markets.

Digital commercial printers, used to print documents such as product manuals and direct mail in large volume, are seen as a segment with strong growth potential at a time when the market for office printing equipment and copiers is gradually declining.

Revenues at Konica Minolta's digital commercial printer operations came to USD 860 million in the year that ended in March. It plans to boost sales in the coming years by launching new machines with advanced printing capacity and focusing on growing demand in emerging economies such as China, India and South America.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Touch-screened printer from HP

HP decided to use its winning touch screen approach to boost sales of its inkjet printers by introducing its new all-in-one touch screen printer. The new inkjet can connect directly to the Internet and print coupons, maps, news, weather information, etc. without being plugged into a computer.

On the other hand, HP took on the success of mobile devices and applications used in them. The company’s latest printer comes with HP applications pre-installed. These can be accessed directly via the touch screen panel. The interesting thing comes with the fact that other apps can be uploaded to printer.

HP executives mentioned that by giving users access to the content they might want to customize their printing experience and create their own apps. HP is driving a significant shift in how people will be printing in the future.

The new smart printer is called HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web. The printer has a 4.3-inch LCD touch screen and it can print, fax, copy and scan. It can also print directly from Wi-Fi-enabled PCs, Bluetooth-enabled devices, iPhone and the iPod touch. With all that its price is far from being accessible – it is over USD400.

In a nutshell, HP is making an interesting effort to reinvent printing by boosting printers with features particular to computers and mobile devices.

Key words: HP, touch screen, printers, new, TouchSmart Web, Photosmart

European Union introduces new energy efficiency rules for PCs and printers

New energy efficiency standards come into force in Europe from July. These standards put copiers, printers and computers under a closer look. At the same time energy savings incurred by the application of the new ruling may save enough energy over 1 year to power Ireland for that same year.

Energy Star standards for computers and imaging equipment agreed earlier by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Commission have become law today, on July 1, in the EU.

According to the new energy star standards electronics manufacturers worldwide are required to make office equipment up to 14 percent more energy efficient than current models without having to make separate products for different standards in their two biggest markets, the U.S. and the EU.

The European Commission said better efficiency standards could save Europe up to 22 terawatt hours of electricity over four to six years.

If all imaging products sold in the U.S. met the new standards, U.S. consumers would save nearly $500 million a year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions that would be released by more than 500,000 cars.

The EU is aiming to cut energy use by a fifth by 2020 as part of its ambitious goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.

Source: Associated Press

Key words: EU, European Union, printers, copiers, energy efficiency, 2009

Xerox introduces two new MFUs

Xerox unveiled two new multifunctional printers WorkCentre 3210 and 3220 combining printing, copying, scanning and faxing. The new printers feature a 360 MHz processor, 128 MB of memory and USB port. They can scan directly to or print from a USB memory drive.

WorkCentre 3210 and 3220 can print at speeds of up to 24 ppm and 30 ppm, respectively. The WorkCentre 3220 comes with Adobe PostScript 3 and other features such as fax forward to e-mail and automatic two-sided printing to reduce paper consumption.

As Rick Dastin, President of Xerox Global Product Delivery Group, stated: “Small businesses typically operate on small budgets, especially when it comes to technology investments. These new MFPs have a great mix of features that deliver high performance and 'big-budget' technology to SMBs working on a shoestring.”

Source: www.xerox.com

Key words: Xerox, printers, new, MFUs

A new stream jet technology from Kodak

Kodak came up with a new ink-printing technology promising to push laser printing in the market. The new Stream Inkjet Technology was announced in 2008, but no printing devices used it until June, 2009. The Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System, using this technology, was released a couple of weeks ago. It represents a monochrome continuous inkjet printhead designed for inline digital printing on high-speed web devices.

The commercial introduction of the Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System follows the worldwide customer beta installations that demonstrated the technological and commercial benefits of Stream Inkjet Technology. Kodak stated that all its stream-based products will go under the Kodak Prosper name, as if showing the new opportunities the new technology can bring to corporate clients.

The Kodak Prosper S10 Imprinting System integrates seamlessly with web offset presses and web finishing equipment to add variable data to offset printed materials. Operating at 1,000 fpm (305 mpm) with a resolution of 600 dpi, it allows users to print variable data inline, saving time and money over a traditional, two-step process that combines offset pre-printed forms and offline laser imprinting.
With a print width of 4.16 inches (10.56 centimeters) and pigment-based inks that offer fade, scratch and water resistance, the S10 Imprinting System increases throughput and eliminates the need for additional standalone print devices.

Source: www.kodak.com

Key words: Kodak, ink streaming, printers, cartridges, inkjet, markets

New InkSave program from Dell

Dell announced the launch of its new InkSave program, within which users can return used ink cartridges for an automatic replacement.

The model applied by Dell resembles the one used by Netflix: users return movies in a prepaid envelope and receive the next movie in their list. Dell’s InkSave looks similar to the above model: Dell ships new printers with a pre-installed cartridge and a spare one. When the installed cartridge runs out of ink, the user can send it back in a prepaid envelope to get a new one from Dell. The billing for the new cartridge is done automatically to the user’s account or credit card.

Users can simply sign up for the program on Dell’s website. Then they are sent the kit with the cartridge and envelopes.

Key words: Dell, printers, cartridges, inkjet, supplies, markets

Toshiba adds a new monochrome e-STUDIO to its lineup of MFPs

Toshiba announced the expansion of its monochrome MFP product offering with the new Toshiba e-STUDIO™205L/255/305/355/455 and e-STUDIO555/655/755/855 Series. Each line comes with a host of compelling features for businesses of all sizes, including: print and scan standard; a full-color touch-screen LCD control panel; scan-to, and print-from-USB accessibility from the front of the machine; and impressive monthly copy volumes. Like all of Toshiba’s color models, these nine new monochrome machines feature Toshiba’s third generation e-BRIDGE controller with Open Platform architecture. This technology allows third-party software applications, such as Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange, to integrate directly with the e-STUDIO device. Additionally, the Toshiba e-STUDIO455 Series provides color scanning functionality right out of the box.

The e-STUDIO455 and e-STUDIO855 Series are available through Toshiba’s networks of dealers.

Source: www.copiers.toshiba.com

Key words: Toshiba, MFP, copier, e-Studio

Fuji Xerox's forecast about the printing market

Japan's Fuji Xerox said it would take several years for global office equipment demand to return to levels seen before the financial crisis. Fuji Xerox, a copier and printer joint venture between Fujifilm Holdings and Xerox Corp, announced it plans to focus on growth areas such as digital commercial printing operations to drive sales. Digital commercial printers are used to produce such documents as product manuals and direct mail quickly and in large volume, and are a fast-growing segment of the printer market.

Asked when the ailing printing market would get back into positive trends, Fuji Xerox President Tadahito Yamamoto said: "My answer is still uncertain. In Japan and the United States and Europe it's still difficult to tell. I think it will take another two to three years". Yamamoto said Fuji Xerox aims to double its revenues from digital commercial printing operations and document-related by the year to March 2014.

Source: tonernews.com

Key words: Fuji Xerox, market, crisis

Lexmark's reboot in India

After restarting its operations in India, Lexmark launched a new offer of color laser printers, ink-jet and MFUs in India. Announcing its future plans, the U.S. printer manufacturer stated that while its enterprise products will be handled by its Mumbai-based national distributor CMS, the ink-jet and SOHO products will be the responsibility of the Bengaluru-based national distributor, Cyberstar Infocom. Laser printers and MFPs will be the focus area for Lexmark that had launched a total of 67 products for the India market.

These products are already sold in North America and Europe's markets. Kumar Priya Ranjan, Country Manager, Lexmark International stated, "Lexmark will adopt the indirect model for expanding its presence further. We announced the Lexmark value partner program in the month of May 2009 and have so far appointed seven to eight partners to resell our products in India. We will now look at increasing our partner base and take the Value partner count to around 100 partners by the end of 2009."

Until recently Lexmark's efforts were directed towards Britain and China but the vendor is now looking at strengthening its presence in Russia and India as well.

Source: Indian mass media

Key words: Lexmark, India, printers, market

Samsung offers a new leasing scheme for printers in the UK

Samsung launched a 0% financing scheme for participating Samsung resellers in the UK and Ireland. The offer is available from the beginning of June and the company plans to spread the initiative in other European countries.

Representatives of the company stated that the new leasing scheme will make Samsung printing technology more affordable and accessible to business customers. Neil Sawyer, head of marketing, Samsung's European printing operation, said that printing represents the largest proportion of IT expenses and is a business process that companies often seek to address as part of a wider cost reduction exercise. He also added: “Printing technologies from Samsung make it easy for businesses to control printing costs at the same time as enhancing employee productivity with more efficient printing processes. However, budget limitations can mean that money isn’t always available to invest in new technology when companies need it most. The introduction of the Samsung 0% finance program makes our printer technology more affordable and accessible to businesses at the right time".

The finance program is offered through Rabobank Group, a global provider of leasing, business and consumer finance solutions with a proven track record in the IT sector. The offer, which is valid until 31st May 2010, is available for printers from Samsung’s business product portfolio.

Source: www.channelemea.com

Key words: Samsung, UK, leasing, printers, financing

Ursula Burns, a new CEO of Xerox, interviewed by CNN

RechargEast Magazine, JUNE'09 issue

READ IN THE JUNE'09 ISSUE:

» Remanufacturing the Xerox Phaser 3300 MFP Toner Cartridge
» Lexmark E120: the "Disposable" Personal Printer

» Rumors are Highly Exaggerated

» In the Print 2.0 World

Full page e-version of the magazine is also available here:

Download the JUNE'09 issue.

Key words: remanufacturing in Eastern Europe, chips, cartridges, toner, inks, compatible cartridges, inkjet, supplies, markets

IBM and Ricoh come up with a new printer

InfoPrint, a joint venture of IBM and Ricoh, launched a new series of color printer with enhanced sustainability features. The new series of printers features standard duplex printing meant to reduce the amount of paper waste.

The new ColorCare technology used in the printers will help control color access and per-copy costs. Run in eco-mode, energy consumption is reduced while the printers are in standby. The printers are designed to be used by small companies and middle work groups.

Key words: IBM, Ricoh

Lexmark is restarting its operations in India

There have been 3 years since the moment Lexmark stopped its operations in India. Now the company intends to restart its operations in the country. The India operations will be headed by Kumar P Ranjan who has been appointed as Country Manager—Solutions and Services, and the launch of the operations is planned for June from Mumbai.

Key words: Lexmark, India

HP is attacking the aftermarket with new market research data

HP has announced the results of a report produced by Quality Logic Inc. (ordered again by HP), which revealed that, presumably, the use of remanufactured cartridges incur twice as much troubles for laser printers in total costs than if the printers are on original cartridges.

The independent testing laboratory Quality Logic Inc. lead a study in the Asia Pacific region to compare the total amount of costs necessary to properly use a laser cartridge. The tester presented the data coming from 2500 small businesses in the region, which includes all information about reliability and page quality.

According to the results of the testing company 1 in 4 of all remanufactured cartridges failed to produce good quality prints and only 1 in 3 pages printed on a remanufactured was acceptable for use.

According to an HP representative in Thailand, small and medium businesses can see immediate cut in expense with remanufactured cartridges, but in the long run the difference will be quickly eroded and customers will incur twice as much costs on maintenance and repairs.

Quality Logic Inc. tested the cartridge reliability and page quality distribution of HP LaserJet toner cartridges for the HP LaserJet 2300 and HP LaserJet 4350 printers. The final outcome of this study is:

> 9.7% of remanufactured cartridges failed prematurely.
> 15.3% had 50% or more pages of limited or no use.
> 25.3% of prints on remanufactured cartridges were of limited use : not for external distribution.
> 3.8% of prints on remanufactured cartridges were of limited use: not for use at all.

RechargEast: This first study in the region ordered and sponsored by HP revealed just exactly what the ordering company wanted to hear and deliver to the local markets. Unfortunately, the study does not give concrete details as to the criteria, print-environment conditions and the state of printing devices as well as all other important factors for a test. The study does not give any information about the brands of the used remanufactured cartridges. Neither is there any information whether remanufactured cartridges were just refilled or remanufactured ones. All these gaps can only prompt to the fact, that the study is a tool to be used in the harsh competition war on the market of imaging supplies, which HP is gradually losing in Asia to the aftermarket.

Probably, the economic crisis, falling demand and increased prices for OEm cartridges in the region made the US printer giant look for some other means to sway the local public's attention from cheaper aftermarket products.

Key words: HP, remanufactured, cartridges, aftermarket, Asia

Xerox goes greener with its ColorQube 9200

Xerox announced the release of its new top-notch multifunctional printer ColorQube 9200, which is said to reduce waste by 90%.

Last week the US printer manufacturer unveiled its new ColorQube 9200 printer, which embodies a set of new technologies meant to reduce waste, cut energy consumption and save on supplies.

The new device is based on solid ink technology. The company says the technology is the key factor to cut on waste as the ColorQube 9200 would print more than 55,000 pages on a single block of ink.


Xerox also points out that the use of this saving technology will allow to use 9% less energy and produce 10% fewer greenhouse gases throughout the machine's lifespan as compared with similar laser printers.

The ColorQube 9200 is another product in Xerox's initiative to go green. The company has already announced the energy-efficient toner and a couple of eco-friendly technologies patented.

The new ColorQube 9200 is available already in North America. But it targets small printing companies with the price of around $23,000. The launch date for Europe is planned for September, 2009.

Key words: Xerox, green, multifunctional, printer, environment

New WorkForce 310 from Epson

Epson introduced the WorkForce 310 ink jet all-in-one printer, which is compatible with Macs and PCs.

The new MFU designed for small and medium businesses has a built-in Ethernet port and has five individual high-capacity cartridges that use DuraBrite pigment-based ink. Epson also states that the printer uses up to 70 percent less power than a laser printer.

The WorkForce 310 prints 16 ppm in black and 5 ppm in color. The device is equipped with a 30-page automatic document feeder for faxing, copying or scanning. The MFU can fax in black-and-white and in color.

The WorkForce 310 is compatible with Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.

According to the company's press release, the printer will be available in June for the recommended price of $130.

Key words: Epson, printers, new, inkjet

RechargEast Magazine, MAY'09 issue

READ IN THE MAY'09 ISSUE:

» Remanufacturing the Samsung CLP-610 Toner Cartridge
» Toshiba MJ-1015 MJ-1016 Finishers – Let’s “FINISH” The Copy/Print Job (part VIII)

» "Don't Throw. Make It Valuable", - says LVL from France

» To End All Wars...In the Imaging Industry
» A Big Country, a Big Market, Huge Perspectives...But Not that Quick Now!
» Marketing and Selling Your Product and Service in a Recession
» HP Managed Print Services

Full page e-version of the magazine is also available here:

Download the MAY'09 issue.

Key words: remanufacturing in Eastern Europe, chips, cartridges, toner, inks, compatible cartridges, inkjet, supplies, markets

Sancon from China to expand its recycling capabilities

The Chinese company Sancon, a local environmental services and waste recycling company, announced that it inked an agreement with Close the Loop Limited to form a joint venture with the purpose of setting up a state-of-the-art 6,000 square meters facility which will recycle toner and inkjet cartridges with zero waste to landfill, and return the raw materials back to the original manufacturer for reuse in new printers and cartridges.

China currently consumes over 100 million printer cartridges on an annual basis. Sancon will consolidate the results of the joint venture under GAAP. Close the Loop has successfully operated a similar Facility in Australia.

Close the Loop is widely recognized in Australia for its ability to efficiently and cost-effectively process all-in-one toner cartridges, ink jets, toner bottles, drum units, fuser assemblies and other waste. It works closely with some of the top printer cartridge makers in the world, and counts IBM, HP, Epson, Brother, Cannon, Toshiba amongst its partners and clients.

Source: www.sanconinc.com

Key words: cartridge recycling, inks, toner, China

Epson and Apple to pair up to produce a new app for printing

By friending up and releasing a new mutually compatible application, Epson and Apple offer users of Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices the possibility of printing photos and documents from Epson printers using the new EuroSmartz, Ltd. Print & Share application.

The application, available for $6.99 on iTunes' app store, will allow an iPhone or iPod Touch to connect to a Epson printer either through a USB cable or over a network. The printed material ranges from business documents and emails to photos and PDF files.
The partnership between Epson and Apple opens up a new section of the mobile printing industry and the print application is available now.

Source: www.printercomparison.com

Key words: Epson, Apple, partnership

Xerox is back on the track with its solid ink technology

According to New York Times, Xerox is planning to breathe life in its solid ink printers by adding high-volume color printers to its product list by the end of this spring. After years of research, Xerox will release the first in a new series of large machines this month that it claims will change the economics of printing large volumes of color documents at offices.

Unlike traditional laser printers that use cartridges of powdery, sometimes messy toner, the revamped products rely on hunks of ink that remain solid at room temperature and then melt when heated.

“This is something they have been working on for forever and a day,” said Brian Bissett, the editor of the MFP Report, a publication about office printers and copiers. “It does have the potential to be fairly important.”
Traditionally, printer makers have charged big corporate customers a per-page fee for printing services: up to 8 cents a page for a color document and less than 2 cents a page for black-and-white.

Xerox and its main competitors, Canon and Ricoh, typically bill customers for a color page if there is any pigment on it, whether it’s a full-color replica of a slide from a presentation or a page that just has a colorful company logo and mostly black text.
Because of the higher cost, only about 15 percent of the more than two trillion documents printed every year in offices worldwide use color.

“This isn’t because people don’t like color but because there have been lots of barriers to color,” said Ursula M. Burns, the president of Xerox. “The last barrier is that it’s expensive.”

With its new ColorQube solid ink systems, Xerox says it can pull the average cost of color documents down to about 3 cents a page. A portion of the price break comes from better tracking of how much color is used on a page. But the principal breakthrough with the solid ink technology stems from the overall simplicity of the machine’s innards. Solid ink machines need about one-third as many parts as laser printers, which require various mechanisms to fuse toner onto paper that must be replaced over time, adding materials and services costs.

And instead of putting clunky cartridges of toner into the printers, customers just pop in the sticks of ink. Once that ink runs out, another stick goes in, and there’s nothing that needs to be thrown away or recycled. Over all, Xerox claims that it takes about 272 pounds of material to produce one million pages with a solid ink machine versus 965 pounds of material with a competing laser product.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Key words: Xerox, solid inks, large-scale printers

HP says there will be no more drivers for printers

ZDNet has informed that HP has radical plans for the future of consumer printing, promising an end to printer drivers and the introduction of devices that just do not care at all what the user's platform is: Windows, Linux, iPhone or anything else.

According to HP's representatives there's a significant move to authoring and editing digital content. This trend offers new business opportunities for HP to develop a new way of printing. The company describes its idea as follows. The user takes his printer home from the store and plugs it into the network. The printer is registered with HP's servers over the Internet. When the user starts printing the information is sent to the servers and those send the output to the printer. In the end it will not matter much what the working tool is (iPhone or a laptop), it's a Web service and users will print provided they have connection to the Internet. This is the basis of the so-called cloud printing process developed by HP.

HP gives the possibility to print from BlackBerry

Cloud printing will be used in printing from BlackBerries. HP and Research In Motion (RIM) announced they are establishing a strategic alliance to deliver a portfolio of solutions for business mobility on the BlackBerry® platform.

HP will soon be demonstrating two new solutions – HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry® smartphones and HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry smartphones is a web services based solution that allows users to print emails, documents, photos and web pages using a BlackBerry smartphone, wherever they are – in the office, at home or on the road.

The CloudPrint service enables mobile users to easily print to the nearest printer. The service is printer-agnostic and driverless and requires simple Internet access. HP and RIM plan to make CloudPrint available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers.

So, the first step is made to offer cloud printing to the market. We just need to see whether this new type of printing will be accepted or not by users.

Key words: BlackBerry, HP, cloud printing, partnership

Remax 2009

In the end of April a new edition of Remax took place. Here are some opinions of its participant.

First reaction to Remax 09 from Recycler on Vimeo.

Brazilian PC market is table, printers suffer

The Brazilian PC market decreased 23% in unit terms in February 2009 compared to the previous month. Desktops and notebooks declined by 27% and 13% respectively. Nevertheless, in comparison to the same month in 2008, the market in volume terms remained almost identical.

In February 2009 the Printers market decreased 28% in sales units compared to the same period of the previous year, but compared to January 2009 it remained stable. The Laser Printers market share increased 63% compared to September 2008, which represents a 75% increase in value. Inkjet printers continued to be the most popular printer type, maintaining a share of around 70% for the last 6 months.

Source: www.gfkrt.com

Key words: Brazil, printers

Canon opens a new cartridge-manufacturing plant

On May 1, Canon opened a new $640 million cartridge-manufacturing facility in Oyster Point, Virginia, USA, that will bring 1,000 jobs to the region by 2013.

The 700,000-square-foot building is finished but will not start operations until the end of the year or early 2010, Rhonda Bunn, a spokeswoman for Canon Virginia, said Thursday. Equipment will be installed from May to October and then tested for several weeks, she said.

Canon, she said, promised to hire 1,000 workers for the facility by 2013. It already has hired 250. Canon has been in Newport News for 23 years and employed about 1,500 people before the expansion.

The printing company chose Newport News for the expansion because "Canon wants to build products in the region near the consumer," Bunn said.

The laser-cartridge facility is the largest piece of Canon Virginia's expansion, one of the state's biggest economic-development coups in recent years.

Source: www.hamptonroads.com

Key words: Canon, plant, cartridge manufacturing

Canon’s fall in profit

Japan's Canon reported an 88 percent fall in quarterly profit, hit by slumping demand for copiers and printers. Demand for office machines and their supplies such as toner cartridges remained weak as the global financial crisis made the replacement cycle of copiers and printers longer and prompted corporate clients not to use them as heavily as before.

Canon, whose other competitors include Xerox and Ricoh, earlier this month delayed the construction of a toner cartridge components plant in western Japan for a second time, underscoring weak demand.
But Canon's overseas sales have been boosted by softer-than-expected yen. The company also said it would aim to cut 172 billion yen in costs this year, 60 billion yen more than originally planned.

Source: www.reuters.com

Key words: Canon, market, profit, crisis

Ecofont promises to cut ink consumption by 20%

SPRANQ, a company from Holland, announced that it invented a new environmentally friendly font named Ecofont.

Ecofont is a newly designed font featuring small circular holes in letters. Having holes inside printed letters may help cut ink usage by as much as 20%. The use of the new font can reduce significantly ink printing expenses and, thus, the Dutch company believes, it will help spread environmental awareness.

Previously, SPRANQ has already experimented with fonts by offering zebra-like and partial letter font models. As the company's founder Gerjon Zomer says, it's necessary to preserve the size and outline of letters to keep them readable. By making analogy with Swiss-made cheese, the company came up with a holed-letter design. The new Ecofont is effective in 9 or 10 sizes on paper.

SPRANQ provides Ecofont free for home users and for businesses at its website www.ecofont.eu.

Key words: technology, fonts, printing expenses, economy

Kyocera Mita added new printers to its ECOSYS printer line

This week Kyocera Mita announced the launch of three new ECOSYS monochrome laser printers. The new printers FS-4020DN, FS-3920DN and FS-2020DN – feature the usual printing system adopted by Kyocera: the ECOSYS drum stays separately from the toner container and it doesn’t need to be replaced every time the toner unit is replaced.

The FS-4020DN prints at the speed of 47 ppm. The printer offers a maximum paper capacity of 2,500 sheets, a maximum duty cycle of 250,000 pages per month and it also supports two-side printing.


The FS-3920DN has a slightly reduced duty cycle (200,000 pages per month) and slower print speeds (up to 42 ppm).


The FS-2020DN prints at the speed of up to 37 ppm. Its maximum paper capacity is 1,100 sheets and the duty cycle is 150,000 sheets per month.


All three printers support several Kyocera network and device management tools as well as well as the Kyocera Command Center, a built-in web interface. They also feature 128MB of standard memory and a USB Host Interface.

The FS-4020DN, FS-3920DN and FS-2020DN are available through Kyocera dealers for the recommended retail price of $1583, $1424, and $1044, respectively.

Key words: Kyocera, printers, monochrome, laser

RechargEast Magazine, APRIL'09 issue

READ IN THE APRIL'09 ISSUE:

» Re-manufacturing the Lexmark E260/360/460 Drum Unit
» Toshiba MJ-1015 MJ-1016 Finishers – Let's “Finish” the Copy/Print Job (part VII)

» Building trust is what counts! Kvisko d.o.o, Montenegro

» Hunting the "Green" Bird
» Enlighten the Dark Western Minds

Full page e-version of the magazine is also available here:

Download the APRIL'09 issue.

Key words: remanufacturing in Eastern Europe, chips, cartridges, toner, inks, compatible cartridges, inkjet, supplies, markets

HP plans to boost sales of MFUs to small and medium businesses in Asia

According to Hewlett-Packard, the current financial crisis can create a huge demand for multifunctional printers. The company recently launched three new LaserJet MFPs to help small and medium enterprises manage their operations anchored on productivity, cost-efficiency and flexibility.

The HP LaserJet M1319f is currently the company’s most affordable monochrome printer. It has four-in-one features of print, copy, scan and fax. This unit can print 18 to 19 letter sized pages per minute or a maximum count of 8,000 pages monthly. It can reduce or enlarge images from 25 percent up to 400 percent.

The HP Color LaserJet CM1312 has the same highlights as the previous model, plus an energy-saving feature called instant-on technology that prints the first page faster when it detects the system is near low power mode. It has a network connectivity using a high-speed USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 port.

For companies needing high volume printing and imaging requirements, the HP Color LaserJet CM 2320n can print 20 to 21 colored pages per minute or up to 40,000 pages a month. Its software is compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux and has built-in Ethernet for faster networking. This model does not have a fax feature.

According to the company's representative in Philippines, for instance, the company will continue its marketing aggressive campaign for MFPs. HP is looking at the specific need of industries to successfully cater all market segments and see if it can launch more printer models in the second half of 2009.

Source: Businessmirror.com.ph

Key words: HP, Asia, Philippines, market, printers, MFUs

Lyra Research's President will attend the Imaging Materials Symposium

Lyra Research announces that Lyra President Charles LeCompte will keynote and Lyra Senior Analyst Cortney Kasuba will be a featured speaker at the 2009 Imaging Materials Symposium, produced by The Tiara Group at May 4-6, 2009, at the Marina del Rey Marriott Hotel in Marina del Rey, California. The event focuses on four key topics in the imaging materials industry--toner, ink jet, media, and sustainability.

Lyra President Charles LeCompte will be the featured keynote speaker at the event's welcome dinner at 7:00 p.m. on May 4. His keynote address, titled, "The Imaging Industry: Trends in Troubled Times," will cover such topics as how supplies power the hard copy business; the three kinds of competition in the hard copy industry (aftermarket, OEM hardware price and OEM cost-per-page); what's going on in China; and the recession and its short- and long-term effects on the industry.

Since 1991, Lyra's custom research and consulting, advisory services, award-winning journals, and innovative events have set the standard for analysis of imaging hardware, consumables, and digital photography markets.

Source: www.lyra.com

Key words: Lyra, event, conference, inks, toner, remanufacturing

Kodak is back in the game by attacking competitors via its advertising campaign

Last week Kodak started a new advertising campaign meant to upstage its product and undermine competitors’ products. The Wall Street Journal wrote, Eastman Kodak is stepping up the aggressiveness of its marketing as it tries to jump-start its ink-jet-printer business and revive its falling brand.

This week, Kodak started a new ad campaign for the business that taps into consumers' frustration with the high price of printer ink. Its slogan: "Print and Prosper." The “Print and Prosper” campaign, begun in the U.S. and Canada, will use television, newspapers and the Internet to try to convince consumers to switch to Kodak printers, the Rochester, New York-based company said in a statement. Kodak will start marketing in other countries in coming months.

"Last year America paid $5 billion too much for ink-jet-printer ink," one print ad says, while a television spot likens ink to oil. "The world's most expensive liquid isn't found in the Middle East. It is found in ink-jet-printer cartridges," says the spot's voice-over. Eastman Kodak is spending roughly $30 million on the campaign, says a person familiar with the matter.

Since its core film business has faded, the former giant has been trying to remake itself into a digital-photo and printing company, selling consumer ink-jet printers and high-speed commercial presses.

In the past several years, as it struggled to turn itself around, Kodak eliminated tens of thousands of jobs and cut ad spending sharply. Last year, it spent $30.6 million in the U.S. on ad time and space, down from $205.2 million in 2001, according to WPP's TNS Media Intelligence.

The new printer pitch, which will appear in the U.S., Britain and Canada, is the latest from Kodak's new chief marketing officer, Jeff Hayzlett, who was promoted to the post in November. The 48-year-old Mr. Hayzlett has been pushing hard to reshape the conservative brand.

Mr. Hayzlett has abandoned the warm-and-fuzzy branding ads once typical of Kodak. Well-known slogans have included "You push the button -- we do the rest" and "Share moments, share life." Instead, he favors more product-specific ads. "We have to have ads that drive sales," he says.

With the new campaign, Kodak is targeting “high ink- burners,” or people who print a lot, Hayzlett said. The company set up the website www.printandprosper.com, where consumers can calculate the difference in ink costs if they switched to a Kodak printer. Kodak is also using blogs and social-networking sites to spread awareness.

Resuscitating the Kodak brand won't be easy. In 2001, Kodak was ranked the 27th-most-valuable brand in the world, according to Omnicom Group's Interbrand. Last year, it fell off Interbrand's closely followed list of the top 100 global brands. "It's still a highly recognized brand" but "you can't support a great brand without great products," says Jez Frampton, chief executive of Interbrand.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.com

Key words: Kodak, printers, ad campaign.

Static Control Components Inc. won the latest round of the battle with Lexmark

The online business source BizJournals announced that Static Control, a world-known manufacturer of high-end supplies for printer cartridges, won a new round in its battle with Lexmark. Essentially, the federal court ruling this week hurts, but does not end, a Lexmark program known as the “prebate.” That program has put a dent into Static Control’s business, which involves making and distributing parts and supplies for remanufacturers of cartridges for printers.

Under terms of the prebate program, Lexmark places restrictions on its printer cartridges. Users agree to buy the cartridges at an up-front discount; in return, they agree to return the empty cartridges to Lexmark. The terms of the deal are placed on the box the cartridge comes in, with users agreeing to abide by the terms by opening the box.

Lexmark says its patents on the cartridges allow it to enforce the terms of the prebate after the cartridges are sold to customers. A federal court in Kentucky had previously agreed.

But on March 31, the court overturned that ruling. The court ruled that the result in a recent Supreme Court case, Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc., established new case law. The net effect of the Supreme Court ruling, the Kentucky court says, is that Lexmark can no longer claim any patent rights on printer cartridges once they are sold.

The court did rule, however, that state contract law may still apply to the prebate program, which would mean that the program is still legal. Lexmark, based in Kentucky, says it plans to continue the program.

This week’s ruling is just the latest in the battle between Static Control and Lexmark, which has ebbed and flowed like a heavyweight title fight since 2002. Lexmark originally sued Static Control claiming that Static Control products violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act – a law meant to protect copyrights in the technology world.

Courts disagreed with that assertion, giving a victory to Static Control in the realm of copyright law. But claims concerning patent law and contract law continue to this day.

Source: www.bizjournals.com

Key words: Static Control, Lexmark, patent rights, prebate.