Digital BW, The Print

James,

You could be a lawyer as this is one of the affirmative defenses in
the large format case (CV No. 07-0896-ST) which is going on now in Oregon:

"23. On information and belief, such Purchasers have relied to their
detriment upon Plaintiffs' conduct and silence and reasonably believe
by virtue of Plaintiffs' conduct and silence, that such replacement
using competitive ink cartridges is permitted."

I do not know if it would help or not to communicate what you bring up
as fact but it is in line with one of their affirmative defenses, and
material witnesses are necessary. The lawyers which mounted this
defense on Oct 15 are:

Dennis P. Rawlinson, OSB No. 763028 
dennis.rawlinson@... 
Kieran J. Curley, OSB No. 012414 
kieran.curley@... 
Phone: (503) 224-5858 
Fax: (503) 224-0155 
 
Joel E. Lutzker 
joel.lutzker@... 
John C. Garces 
john.garces@... 
Leonard S. Sorgi 
leonard.sorgi@... 
SCHULTE ROTH & ZABEL, LLP 
919 Third Avenue 
New York, New York  10022 
Telephone: (212) 756-2000 
Facsimile: (212) 593-5955 
 
Attorneys for Defendants Linkyo Corp., 
Cartridges Are Us, Inc., and Printpal, Inc. 

Perhaps James you can communicate and let users know if they can be of
assistance to them. Incidentally, PiezographyBW for large format was
released in 2001. Desktop versions were released in April, 2000.




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, James Irelan
<james@...> wrote:
>
> A question for the legally knowledgeable:
> 
> Someone mentioned that Epson has to sue to keep their patents alive,  
> otherwise a competitor like HP could come along and capitalize on  
> their technology and prevail based on Epson's failure to get active  
> and raise the issue.  Couldn't that same argument pertain to protect  
> artists who have been using the cart technology for a number of years  
> now?  When did Cone's Piezo system first come out?  More than ten  
> years ago?  Granted, those carts weren't chipped.  But artists have  
> established themselves and are making livelihoods using this  
> technology having nothing to do with cart type or anything else other  
> than ink different from or superior to anything Epson offered at the  
> time, or even now.  Did Epson spring into action in a timely fashion  
> and say wait a minute; you can't use those carts/materials?  Or did  
> respectable and valuable businesses and artists become established  
> for years, now to find their livelihoods and art threatened?   
> Couldn't some case be made based on the length of time these  
> practitioners have had, and based on the inherent value of what they do?
> 
> James
>