Hardcopy Industry Continues Down Rocky Road to Recovery

Looking over the recent results of various hardware vendors for the second half of 2013, it is clear that the industry is seeing new signs of life.  Many companies are reporting that sales are up modestly compared to last year along with profits, and those that did not experience
Read More

The Spotlight is on Digital Machines at PRINT 13

On October 7, one month to the day after the doors opened at PRINT 13, the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) released their final attendance figures for this year’s show. As I expected, the quadrennial event failed to draw as many attendees or exhibitors as PRINT 2009 did.
Read More

Canon’s GEO Review Period Ends while Lexmark Looks for Yet Another Extension

As summer came to a close, milestones were reached in two of the digital imaging industry’s mostly closely watched patent-infringement cases in the United States. First, the review period ended for orders issued in late June by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)
Read More

Canon Gets Its GEO – Now What?

At the close of day on the last Friday of June, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced it had issued a general exclusion order (GEO) that could profoundly impact the market for certain toner cartridges in the U.S. Just after issuing the GEO, the ITC released a
Read More

As Court Date Nears, Lexmark Puts More Pressure on Firms in Patent Suit

Last summer, I wrote an article for ENX about Lexmark’s efforts to extract royalty fees from an undisclosed number of third-party supplies vendors. Alleging the firms had marketed remanufactured toner cartridge that violated its patents, Lexmark demanded the accused pay royalties
Read More

Memjet and Parts Now Partner to Market Desktop Units in North America

In January, Parts Now announced that it has become the “the initial distributor and reseller for Memjet-powered C6010 color printers in North America.” In addition to the machine, the company is also marketing ink tanks, print heads, and other parts for the C6010 as well as “Fill
Read More

Plenty of New Hardware Hits the Market in 2012

Despite all the bad news we have been hearing about the hard copy market lately, hardware manufacturers have remained active. Last year, the industry witnessed plenty of important new product releases for office users. The year began with news of many new machines, and we then
Read More

Cases Resolved Swiftly as Companies Seek to Settle in 2012

From the opening weeks of 2012, right through December, the headlines have been dominated by news of lawsuits and settlements. The year began with Canon suing dozens of third-party supplies vendors for violating its patents on gears used in toner cartridges. In the spring, word
Read More