This is of great interest to me, and others using 3rd party inks in their Epson printers. Epson is working toward a similar ruling for the large format cartridges as well. Using Jon's inks and 3rd party papers, I am currently making prints that in my opinion and that of others can not be touched by the quality of an out of the box Epson solution. I can only speak my own opinion. In fact, for my work, the solutions offered by the standard Epson inks and drivers yield unacceptable print quality FOR MY PURPOSES, you may have very different needs. There are others using MIS inks, Generations, and other setups for their own reasons this impacts as well. Beyond the printing issue, there are larger issues at play here too.
That these aggressive technology corps have impacted the marketplace such that smaller older traditional manufacturers can't compete makes this even more difficult, since most of those products are now gone.
If any of this seems relevant to you, please read Jon's post below, reproduced here with his permission.
Thanks,
Tyler
Who would have known that something like this could happen in America?
Unfortunately after reviewing nearly 500 pages of the court ruling as
well as the ITC ruling, it is clear that this affects every company in
the USA that imports either empty, filled, or CIS cartridges for
desktop printers. It does not affect large format.
EPSON set up this website to bring it to the attention of all
cartridge resellers:
http://itc.epson.com/This ruling only affects the USA and is now dependent upon the
President of the USA, George W Bush, signing it into law - which is
expected. It affects all desktop cartridges which have a chip parallel
to the front of the cartridge but not the chip itself, the port
through which ink feeds into the ink stem of the printer, and the
device which holds the cartridge into the printer, also cartridges
with foam or a bladder/valve. In short it covers all 750 models of
EPSON products but only for the desktop. And yes CIS are affected. The
end result being none of these cartridges will be allowed into the USA
after the President signs it into law.
It does give one pause to think that patent law has become more
important in the USA than anti-trust law, and this may signal the
beginning of entities rushing patents not in order to make innovation
but rather to produce monopolies. It is a totally anti-competitive
action which has occurred and is unfortunately a symptom of what is
happening in the USA that affects people across all party lines. In
short it affects every average US citizen, whether they are a
photographer using monochromatic inks to replace the darkroom
materials which are no longer manufactured, a scrap-booker trying to
save money on their hobby, or the retiree that prints coffee mugs and
mouse pads with dye-sublimation inks to augment their social security.
Can you or anyone do anything?
The International Trade Commission was charged with the below burden
but may not have been presented with any evidence as to how it
affected the USA because only a single surviving Chinese company was
represented:
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"If the Commission contemplates some form of remedy, it must consider
the effects of that remedy upon the public interest. The factors the
Commission will consider include the effect that an exclusion order
and/or cease and desist orders would have on (1) the public health and
welfare, (2) competitive conditions in the U.S. economy, (3) U.S.
production of articles that are like or directly competitive with
those that are subject to investigation, and (4) U.S. consumers.
If the Commission orders some form of remedy, the President has 60
days to approve or disapprove the Commission's action."
-------
So, if you think that the your welfare is affected by the ITC decision
or that competitive conditions will be affected, etc, you should
quickly write the President of the United States and reference this on
both your envelope and the letterhead:
RE: International Trade Commission 337 Investigation No. 337-TA-565
Please write the President. You have only a short time to act.
start it thus:
------------
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
[enter date here]
RE: International Trade Commission 337 Investigation No. 337-TA-565
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you concerning the October 19, 2007 decision by the
International Trade Commission concerning the Section 337
Investigation in the Matter of Certain Ink Cartridges and Components
Thereof (Inv. No.337-TA-565). Their decision is now coming to you for
your approval, of which I hope you pause to reflect upon, and do not sign.
The ITC decision adversely affects me because...[ this is where you
write the because and you should speak of how it directly affects you
or your business.]
...and dont forget to sign it!
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If you know someone high up on the media chain - make a phone call to
them. Its a very newsworthy story that is being kept very quiet right
now, probably so as not to upset what is seen as the inevitable
signing into law of this historic ruling on consumables. Anti-trust
law used to prevent this from happening. I can only imagine what other
foreign and usa corporations will also attempt to monopolize a piece
of the American economy.
OPTIONS:
1) We recommend for our desktop users to look online for a supplier of
CIS systems so they can be prepared to switch to bottles.
2) InkjetMall will be contacting its customers with a special offer to
encourage them to upgrade to large format systems which are not
affected by this ruling.
3) Save your current carts and learn how to take a syringe, draw a
vacuum and refill from a bottle. A chip resetter available on the
internet will refresh the ink memory chip. It may be necessary to
temporarily tape over the ink outlet port in order to draw a
sufficient vacuum.
Of course, our European customers will be able to continue purchasing
our desktop cartridges from our European resellers, but our European
resellers will not be allowed to sell them to USA customers according
to this ruling so this is not an option for USA customers. We can
continue to purchase and fill inks for desktop in our overseas
location for our European customers.
best regards,
Jon Cone