HP TO SPEND $1B ON R&D TO STOP COUNTERFEIT INK CARTRIDGES

[Anonymous]

HP TO SPEND
$1Billion ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT  TO STOP COUNTEFEIT INK
CARTRIDGES 
With a budget of 4
billion dollars a year / Nearly 1 billion for ink cartridges
Between
2005 and 2008, Hewlett Packard (HP) has seized fake goods valued at
over $ 795 million. And because investment in research and development
of manufacturers is approximately 4 billion dollars a year, it intends
to further strengthen its efforts to combat counterfeiting. Today, as
the management of HP Africa presents itself as one of the most important
platforms of counterfeit products. 2009 alone, over 320,000 counterfeit
goods were seized on the African market. Note that most decision was
made in Egypt with more than 277,000 pieces.

Thus, the “HP
Technology Road Show”, dedicated to the presentation of new printing
solutions and digital imaging, which was held December 9 in El Jadida,
was the opportunity to Tonia Rose, the expert anti HP-counterfeiting for
the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) to highlight advances in
anti-counterfeiting. “The phenomenon affects mainly HP software
products, including ink cartridges, which are the subject of the largest
volumes of counterfeiting,” says Rose. Typically, the counterfeiters
pack counterfeit cartridges in boxes identical to those of HP, or they
recycle cans Original HP used. This difference leads to a small or
virtually zero between the original and the fake-level packaging. As a
result, actions are undertaken in different target countries, notably
through education campaigns, but also training modules for the benefit
of customs authorities and police. HP is also involved in distribution
channels with clauses signed with these partners. This allows him to
inspect the stocks of retailers. This has already affected nearly 2,000
partners in EMEA. Regarding Morocco, checks should continue until 2010.

But
beyond the “operations punch” the U.S. firm put more on his cell R
& D to reduce counterfeiting. According to Amr Hassan, General
Manager HP IPG (imaging and digital printing) Africa, “nearly a quarter
of R & D, 1 billion dollars is dedicated to ink cartridges. However,
the characteristics of the African market, including living standards,
mean that this practice is hard to eradicate: it is “live” thousands of
families. On the other, due to lack of profits for manufacturers,
counterfeiting is causing the loss of 200,000 jobs.
http://www.leconomiste.com/article.html?a=97340

[Author]

January 4, 2010 at 11:00 AM