HP sues ink cartridge maker for unfair competition
Hewlett-Packard is accusing European print supply maker Pelikan Hardcopy of unfair business practices in an ongoing legal spat over ink cartridges, the company announced Monday.
HP's German subsidiary, Hewlett-Packard GmbH, said in a second lawsuit filed in a German court that Pelikan's German subsidiary is selling two models of color inkjet print cartridges labeled as remanufactured products, when they are actually new. HP says it discovered Pelikan's supposed violation as part of the Imaging and Printing Group's worldwide testing efforts. HP one of the largest suppliers of printers and ink in the world. Pelikan is based in Switzerland and has branches in 11 European countries.
Pelikan has previously run afoul of HP. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company sued Pelikan in early May in a different German court and asked that Pelikan be barred from selling several models of color ink cartridges that it says violate three ink formula and three cartridge patents belonging to HP.
Both lawsuits are ongoing. This is not the first time HP has sued a remanufacturer or cartridge refiller over intellectual property violations. Printing is HP's most profitable business and it relies heavily on customer purchases of its ink cartridges, which offer much better profit margin than the actual printing hardware.
Most printer suppliers make ink cartridges that work only with their own models of printers. But there are plenty of companies that sell discount ink to consumers and businesses looking to spend less on cartridges. In the past, HP, Lexmark and other leading printing suppliers have used a variety of legal means to protect their ink and cartridge patents, including, in one case, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
HP is suing them because they are selling a NEW product as RE-MANUFACTURED? In other words, they're selling a better product than they claim to be selling? OMG folks, what is wrong with HP?! This is such a nickpicking load of crap. HP just needs to learn to compete in the market place.
I had convinced myself never to buy another HP product again a long time ago, and I've done pretty well. In fact, just the other day I literally thew my HP Ink Jet in the trash after replacing it with a fine Lexmark color laser.
But this ... this has almost driven me to throw my precious HP RPN calculators that I've had since college back in the late 80s to early 90s in the trash! That's how pissed I am at HP right now. This is just sick.
charge
30 dollars for a cartridge. to hell with their profits. i hope they
lose money. what happened to good old competition
That being said, it has been fun watching HP develop what seems like hundreds of SKUs in the $50-$250 range to compete against up and coming products from competitors. My only hope is that MemJet is creating what is says it can and just completely changes the inkjet landscape.
HP holds various patents on their cartridges. It is not illegal to take a used cartridge and refill and sell it. It is however illegal to manufacture a NEW cartridge without entering into an agreement with HP. It would seem that someone is making new cartridges then labeling them as re-manufactured.
To put it simply. I can sell used cartridges but I cant mold my own and sell them, no matter how I label or package them.
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Anderson smith
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Ink Cartridges
- by semi4 November 13, 2008 6:49 PM PST
- I do not purchase refilled cartridges but I do refill my own. I buy the ink in bulk and refill a cartridge for about $4.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(9 Comments)There are a few tricks to refilling and I made many mistakes at first but now I use latex gloves and have things refined.
If I was just saving $5 a cartridge I would not refill, but a cartridge can be refilled about 6 times before the print starts to degrade and refilling a cartridge 6 times only costs about $24 saving about $150 on 6 refills (on the type of cartridge that I use).
The few tricks:
1. Never let the cartridge go dry. As soon as you notice the print start to fade, refill. (The jets burn out when they try and spray ink when there is no ink to spray. Once the jets are burnt out, throw away the cartridge).
2. The cartridge should not be out of the printer for more than 10 min or the ink in the jets starts to dry out clogging the jets creating all sorts of print problems.
3. Use latex gloves, the cheep throwaway type. You will get ink on yourself and on your hands so be prepared.
The first time it will be very messy and take 10 min just to refill (plus 10 min setup and cleanup). The second time it will be just as messy. About the 4th time you refill your own cartridge it gets easy, quick and almost no mess.
I refill a cartridge in about 5 min from the moment that I first notice the print starting to fade to the point things are cleaned up and finished. For some, they will not want to spend the 5 min and would rather purchase a new cartridge. For me, 5 min to save $30 is worth it.