Digital BW, The Print

bwinkjet wrote:

>I don't believe gasoline development had much to do with the 
>development of the gasoline engine so the argument is not quite 
>appicable. 
>
Actually, it's not the development of gasoline I was pointing to, but 
the development of the cars - i.e. the printers. Car manufacturers 
cannot prevent you from using any gas, oil, transmission fluid, tires, 
or replacement parts that meet the minimum specifications.  In fact, if 
the inks were the innovative feature, then EPSON would be able to charge 
whatever they wanted for those inks and they could easily defend 
infringements against the ink patents. The fact that they do not do so, 
but guard the chips and cartridge patents, puts the lie to your line of 
reasoning.

As for the inks. EPSON does NOT generally develop the actual pigments or 
dyes.  They buy those developed by major international 
chemical/petrochemical firms (all the companies buy from the same small 
selection of producers). As an example, Canon and EPSON use the very 
same dyestuff.  The difference between the two products is the carrier 
and the printer/cartridge.  So, please get your facts correct before 
opining.


>but as I said in my initial post Epson, 
>and now Canon and HP have spent many research and development dollars 
>providing an amazing technology to us and as such have the right to 
>recover their costs, no matter what the business model they choose.  
>In my opinion that is.
>
>  
>
Even if the business model they choose relies on a market-position monopoly?

IF (not, I say "IF") you think it's ok to recover one's costs by using 
industry power and market-position to maintain an effective monopoly in 
a market segment you're quite simply wrong on both legal and economic 
grounds.

On a legal level, vertical tying of that type violated both Sherman and 
Clayton - as well as implicating Magnuson-Moss.  On an economic level, 
it has been repeatedly shown that monopoly creates and inefficient and 
innovation-retarded marketplace.

The fact that someone (EPSON in this case) invested money does not 
axiomatically entitle them to a return on that investment. No business 
is a sure thing. ..And government has no place helping ensure them of a 
return on investment. They chose a business model when inkjets were rare 
and have continued to use that same model even after the printers have 
become ubiquitous. They, and many of us, predicted that if inkjets 
became ubiquitous the business model would be found illegal, if not 
simply have to be altered to avoid anti-trust issues. They've chosen not 
to alter it, but to try and force law and  economics to accord to a 
model they knew could cause such problems.
Keith

 
Keith Krebs

"Just some guy," caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer 
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo 
Publications), at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/
and  the Multiverse's largest Canon printer User  Community at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canon-printers
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together 
guys"

 

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