Wayne,
In Jan. of 2013 Epson signed an agreement with Sawgrass,see below.
This was about the time that Epson introduced their new F model printers.
The word on the street was $2,000,000 plus 5% of sales for the patent release if that is what it is called.
J-Teck has a similar agreement with Sawgrass for ink sales on dye sub printers over 42" as well.
I am guessing Epson signed because they needed to get those F models on the street rather then have a long drawn out fight over ink rights with Sawgrass.
At the time they signed it was almost 2 years from the Sept. 2014 patent expiration date on my thread title.
I guess the patent date does not matter if you are using a wide format machine because the inks are now dirt cheap in that wide format.
(Epson dye inks are $125.00 for 1000 ml and the Sawgrass small format are closer to $1.25 per ml)
That 9890 at $3195 is a steal to convert. Take all those K3 inks that come with the printer and use them in my 9900 and convert the 9890 to dye sub with dirt cheap inks.
The payback will be really fast.
As a side note it does not say Epson is selling Sawgrass inks,it might be there own. All dye sub ink sales revolve around Sawgrass's patent strangle hold. At least for another 8 months.
18/01/2013 - Sawgrass Technologies & Seiko Epson Corporation Sign License Agreement for Sublimation Technology
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Sawgrass Technologies, Inc., and Seiko Epson Corporation of Japan today announced that they have entered into a long term license agreement under which Epson, as an authorized Sawgrass licensee, will sell inks for sublimation imaging.
Sawgrass is an industry leading developer of innovative printing technologies as well as the world largest supplier of dye sublimation inks. Seiko Epson Corporation is a global imaging and innovation leader for a broad range of electronics products. Epson printers as well as their patented piezo electric print heads are used in the dye sublimation market.
Seiko Epson has extensively evaluated the Sawgrass global patent portfolio and signed a license agreement which allows them to legally enter the dye sublimation ink business with printers having a carriage width greater than 42 inches.