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