Digital BW, The Print

Pete,

You wrote:

>Paul, ... I read once that you used to protect people
>from Corporate Interests.

Antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement is my background.  And
those concerns are reflected in my pushing for an open, competitive quad
inkjet market.

In the consumer protection area, misrepresentations by sellers were a big
concern.  Some irritation that you may detect may reflect my views that as
good as some systems are, their claimed benefits have sometimes gone over
the line.

> However, your patent statements make you
>appear to have a conflict of interests against Piezography ...

I want balance out there. When I started this, I didn't think Piezo had any
competitors that were really at the same level.  So, my interest was clearly
to establish a system that could give Piezo a run for its money.

To be honest, however, I also want to be sure I don't go too far.  I want to
be sure Piezo is health and viable, and I think they may be in a bit of
trouble with their ink.

You'll notice that I publish the draft formulas for the inksets I come up
with, including the Piezo-compatible inksets.  I'm giving the industry,
including Cone Editions, what I've found to be cheap and easy ways to make
pretty darn good inks.  IJM can use the formulas I publish freely, buy the
bulk inks easily, and market the inks without any obligation to pay me or
anyone else any fees or royalties. (I get no royalties from MIS either, but
I have been very clear that I do get supplies from MIS for free, and this is
a clear benefit to me.)

>Your comments if even meant to be private were a display of your real
>intentions.

My comments express my views (sometimes in a less-than-politic manner), but
drawing "intentions" from those views is speculative.

My intentions are to get better inks, workflows, etc. that are supported and
accepted by others.  All I'm really doing is trying to make something that I
can use to print my work.  I am not in the ink business, nor in the
curve-writing business.  (In fact, I am not in any business.)  However, my
interests are served by having this inexpensive and flexible alternative
system widely enough used that it is supported by others.  It not only will
lower my printing costs, but it will increase the likelihood that my
printing process and thus prints will be accepted.

I would rather have Epson or some one else with lots of credibility do all
this -- at a price that is equal to what the competitive 3rd-party inks
cost.  But it just was not happening, at least not fast enough for me.

Being a competitive person with the philosophy that anything worth doing is
worth overdoing may, of course, result in behavior that is a bit like
picking up the ball and running out of the stadium with it.  In my
enthusiasm I may also step on some toes, but it is not with any intention to
do harm. I'm just clumsy.

Cheers.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com