HP GOES BACK TO COURT……

[Anonymous]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39284645,00.htm
HP goes to court over the price of ink
HP
said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint in Germany against a
manufacturer of DIY ink cartridges. The PC maker is claiming a
violation of “HP ink patents”.Show related articlesAs well as
manufacturing DIY kits, where the customer buys tubes of ink that are
then injected into HP cartridges, Korean-based InkTec also makes clones
of HP cartridges themselves. But HP has chosen to take action over the
use of the ink itself, rather than the use of cartridge clones.HP said
in a statement that the complaint was “for violation of HP patents for
ink formulations”. Inks contained in the DIY refill cartridge kits “are
claimed to violate HP ink patents”, the statement said.

“There
is a lot of work that goes into the ink itself,” a spokesman for HP
said. “The type of ink use depends on the type of cartridge used and HP
spends billions of dollars to get those ink formulations right.”
Consequently, the company “does not take these infringements lightly”.
To protect these patents, HP has filed the complaint through the court
system in Germany where, the company said, the InkTec inks were found.

“As
the global leader in the supplies industry, HP has always been
committed to honest and fair competition in every country in which we
do business,” said Pradeep Jotwani, senior vice president for HP’s
supplies, imaging and printing group. “With more than 4,000 supplies
patents, representing a deep heritage of innovation, research and
development, HP will continue to vigorously defend intellectual
property violations wherever and whenever they are discovered.”

HP
declined to offer any further details on the exact nature of the
suit.InkTec manufactures a wide range of suppliers and cartridges for
Brother, Canon, Compaq, Dell, Epson, Kodak, Lexmark, Philips, Samsung
and Xerox printers, as well as HP.

Typical InkTec prices are
£8.99 for a 40ml HP black cartridge, and £12 for a 40ml colour
cartridge. The company’s DIY black ink kits cost £8.91 for 3x40ml
refill packs, and colour DIY kits cost £8.91 for 3x20ml refill packs.
This compares to £18 and £21 for official HP black and colour
cartridges.

[Author]

October 14, 2008 at 12:06 PM