*NEWS*CANON OPTS FOR CHIPS IN INKJET CTGS

[Anonymous]

Canon opts for chip dongles on ink cartridges
The Japanese electronics group Canon has announced a new series
comprising 12 models in all of inkjet printers and multi-functional
devices with new types of ink cartridges. The current types of ink
cartridges for Canon printers have been retained unmodified from one
model generation to the next for many years now. Now the new models are
according to price range to work either with cartridges in which, as in
the case of those by the manufacturers Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark, the
cartridge proper and the print head are fused into a combination
cartridge or with single-color cartridges henceforth equipped with a
chip for monitoring the level of ink and an LED. Through a number of
blinking frequencies the latter is to indicate the level of ink without
a PC being required for the reading.

So far Canon as the only one among the four important ink cartridge
manufacturers to do so had dispensed entirely with electronic features
on all their common types of ink cartridges. With its new ink level
gauge Canon was aiming above all to help users cut down on the costs
incurred by misprints that result from the device running out of ink
during a print run, it says in an official statement by the company.

What is likely to become more difficult, perhaps even impossible
entirely, however, is for other manufacturers to offer alternative ink
cartridges and for empty original cartridges to be refilled. In the
past Canon had already tried with a string of more or less abstruse
patent lawsuits to prevent other manufacturers from offering ink for
its printers.

The question of whether or not and if so to what degree the application
of chips in ink cartridges contravenes the so-called EU Directive on
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, still depends entirely on
one’s point of view. In the so-called “Clever Chip Article”  of
the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) the
EU parliamentarians specify that “Member States shall take appropriate
measures so that producers do not prevent, through specific design
features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being reused…” Printer
manufacturers are arguing in unison however that the chips are not
being inserted to prevent reuse of the cartridges, but exclusively for
the purpose of allowing users to gauge levels of ink or to ensure print
quality. To allow the implementation of the original will of the
peoples’ representatives in Brussels to occur the wording of the
Directive and of the act incorporating it into German law – the Act
Governing the Sale, Return and Environmentally Sound Disposal of
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ElektroG) – is much too ambiguous
in both cases.

To date users of present-day Canon printers do not seem to have
particularly missed the chips. On the contrary, market observers
believe that it was the absence of such features and the lower printing
prices that such a product policy make possible that have made the
printers of this company enormously popular during the last few years.
With its approach the company was even able to become market leader, in
the process dethroning HP, the long-standing number one among inkjet
printer manufacturers. Among major online shopping and mail-order sites
its current models iP3000 and iP4000 hog the top sales ranks — with a
considerable lead ahead of the competition.

Moreover, a poll conducted by heise online in February confirmed that
the company’s current consumables concept is extremely well-received by
consumers. Among owners of printers those with Canon devices were found
to be the most satisfied by far.

[Author]

August 27, 2005 at 12:01 PM