Kodak Still Owes Collins Inkjet $1.9 million in Unpaid Invoices

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Kodak Still Owes Collins Inkjet  $1.9 million in Unpaid Invoices
Kodak’s ink pricing legal fight continues
By Matthew Daneman, Staff writer

For the foreseeable future, Eastman Kodak Co. won’t be able to charge different prices for some services depending on whether the customers use Kodak-made inks or a rival’s.

A federal judge ordered that a six-month preliminary injunction issued against Kodak in March continue until either the lawsuit the injunction is part of comes to an end or until that preliminary injunction gets reversed on appeal.

Ohio’s Collins Inkjet Corp. sued Kodak in September 2013, claiming that Kodak was unfairly trying to elbow it out of the Versamark ink business by telling users of the Kodak-made printing press line that getting printheads refurbished would cost more if they used non-Kodak inks. Cincinnati-based Collins is the sole other maker of inks for the Veramark line. And Collins for years had been a hugely important supplier to Kodak of those inks, with Kodak then reselling the ink under its own brand.

According to court documents, Kodak in March mailed all its U.S. and Canadian Versamark customers saying that while it “will take Kodak some time to change its billing and accounting systems” to eliminate that two-tier pricing. And how Kodak is changing its billing has been the source of some contention between the two companies, with Collins earlier this month filing a motion asking that Kodak be charged with contempt for violating the March order.

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett ordered that Kodak mail out a letter to its Versamark customers, indicating that anyone who paid a higher refurbishment price will get notified by Kodak that they are owed a credit or refund, and that two-tier pricing ended as of July 28.

Kodak declined to comment Wednesday. It has appealed the preliminary injunction.

On the Collins company website Wednesday, President Lawrence Gamblin said he “would like to apologize to customers who have been caught in the middle of the conflict between Collins Inkjet and Kodak. I am embarrassed at having been put in a position where I felt it was necessary for Collins Inkjet to take action against Kodak. However, if we had not taken action, Kodak would have been able to push Collins Inkjet out of a market we had operated freely in for almost 25 years for inks I have been formulating since 1982.”

Kodak and Collins bitterly parted business ways in October 2011, after Collins tried to end the decade-old ink supplier agreement. Collins said it was worried about Kodak’s financial solvency and that it might be left with unpaid orders, while Kodak claimed Collins was just trying to steal Kodak ink customers.

Kodak sued, and a judge ruled that Collins prematurely exited the contract, ordering it to again supply Kodak. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy weeks later, leaving Collins with $1.9 million in unpaid invoices.

That contract ended in 2013 with Collins saying it no longer would supply Kodak and that it was offering Collins-brand inks directly to customers. Kodak makes Versamark inks in Dayton, Ohio.

Kodak Still Owes Collins Inkjet  $1.9 million in Unpaid Invoices
Kodak’s ink pricing legal fight continues
By Matthew Daneman, Staff writer

For the foreseeable future, Eastman Kodak Co. won’t be able to charge different prices for some services depending on whether the customers use Kodak-made inks or a rival’s.

A federal judge ordered that a six-month preliminary injunction issued against Kodak in March continue until either the lawsuit the injunction is part of comes to an end or until that preliminary injunction gets reversed on appeal.

Ohio’s Collins Inkjet Corp. sued Kodak in September 2013, claiming that Kodak was unfairly trying to elbow it out of the Versamark ink business by telling users of the Kodak-made printing press line that getting printheads refurbished would cost more if they used non-Kodak inks. Cincinnati-based Collins is the sole other maker of inks for the Veramark line. And Collins for years had been a hugely important supplier to Kodak of those inks, with Kodak then reselling the ink under its own brand.

According to court documents, Kodak in March mailed all its U.S. and Canadian Versamark customers saying that while it “will take Kodak some time to change its billing and accounting systems” to eliminate that two-tier pricing. And how Kodak is changing its billing has been the source of some contention between the two companies, with Collins earlier this month filing a motion asking that Kodak be charged with contempt for violating the March order.

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett ordered that Kodak mail out a letter to its Versamark customers, indicating that anyone who paid a higher refurbishment price will get notified by Kodak that they are owed a credit or refund, and that two-tier pricing ended as of July 28.

Kodak declined to comment Wednesday. It has appealed the preliminary injunction.

On the Collins company website Wednesday, President Lawrence Gamblin said he “would like to apologize to customers who have been caught in the middle of the conflict between Collins Inkjet and Kodak. I am embarrassed at having been put in a position where I felt it was necessary for Collins Inkjet to take action against Kodak. However, if we had not taken action, Kodak would have been able to push Collins Inkjet out of a market we had operated freely in for almost 25 years for inks I have been formulating since 1982.”

Kodak and Collins bitterly parted business ways in October 2011, after Collins tried to end the decade-old ink supplier agreement. Collins said it was worried about Kodak’s financial solvency and that it might be left with unpaid orders, while Kodak claimed Collins was just trying to steal Kodak ink customers.

Kodak sued, and a judge ruled that Collins prematurely exited the contract, ordering it to again supply Kodak. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy weeks later, leaving Collins with $1.9 million in unpaid invoices.

That contract ended in 2013 with Collins saying it no longer would supply Kodak and that it was offering Collins-brand inks directly to customers. Kodak makes Versamark inks in Dayton, Ohio.

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August 14, 2014 at 11:15 AM