Digital BW, The Print

With all the software hacking and computer viruses in this world,  
does anyone think that a "firmware solution" will be created by a  
smart programer to trick the Epsons into thinking their carts are in  
the printer and thus allow the third party ink/cart makers to make  
some cart/chip that does not infringe on Epson? Fight fire with fire?  
It would certainly take years for Epson to get around that. Perhaps a  
CIS that connects directly into the ink lines, no carts at all.

Mark

On Nov 10, 2007, at 11:26 AM, Paul Roark wrote:

> (Some rambling thoughts ...)
>
> Steve Kale wrote, in part:
>
>>> What¹s wrong with a company (anyone) wanting to protect and
>>> generate a return from its intellectual capital?
>
> That's indirectly one of the legal issues: How far does the protection
> (legal monopoly) extend?  Several courts have stated that the  
> monopoly does
> not extend into adjacent markets, including after market  
> replacement parts,
> which seems similar to aftermarket ink sales.
>
>>> Nothing wrong with shopping around for a free lunch but
>>> you should be happy you had a free lunch this far.
>
> I don't want to see Epson damaged by this any more than I want to  
> see the
> aftermarket ink and cartridge sellers damaged.  I think the  
> challenge here
> is to come up with a win-win strategy. I agree we should not expect  
> to free
> ride on anyone, and at the low end we probably have been.
>
> Being realistic, what may happen is that Epson's actions will cut  
> off the
> mass market of cheap, pre-filled carts, while more sophisticated and
> determined people -- including probably the real photo enthusiasts as
> opposed to average snap shooters -- will find ways to circumvent the
> problem, such as buying the empty carts on eBay or from an oversees  
> seller
> and re-filling.  Re-filling carts seems like a problem Epson will  
> have to
> fight by making the carts very re-fill un-friendly.  Blocking all the
> easy-refill carts from overseas will probably be too expensive to  
> bother
> with.
>
>
> Tony Wells wrote, in part:
>
>> ... Low useage amateurs would be worse off while professional
>> printers would be better off,
>
> In the original IBM case where their tying of punch card sales to the
> business machines was declared an illegal "tying" agreement, the  
> economic
> justification for the IBM conduct was said to be that the punch  
> cards were a
> method of "metering" usage.  The way the high volume users paid  
> more than
> the low volume users, which seemed like a fair way to more closely  
> equate
> price with the value of the machine to the user.
>
> If the scenario of the more sophisticated people more easily  
> getting around
> the ban happens, it may end up that the higher volume users in the  
> real
> world figure out how to avoid the meter, while the less  
> sophisticated pay
> the premium.
>
> I have assumed Epson, in fact, is not selling the more sophisticated
> machines at a loss.  The Epson rep who visited me the week before  
> they filed
> the ITC matter seemed mostly concerned with the low end.  The 220  
> was the
> printer we discussed the most in this regard.  He stated Epson lost  
> money on
> those sales, and to compound the damage, the 220 was so good it was  
> seen as
> cannibalizing the sales of the profitable, more expensive printers.
>
> While B&W ink sales are hardly the main focus of Epson's concern,  
> I'd be
> rather happy to see a solution that allowed Epson to compete head  
> to head
> with the others that are doing this same thing at the 260 level  
> (letter or
> A4 size) if the 13" or 1800-2400 and up level was wide open.
>
> Epson has made some fine printers for our purposes.  I hope they  
> continue to
> do so.  It would sure be nice if both sides saw each other as  
> partners as
> opposed to adversaries.
>
> As a Hasselblad rep once said to me: photographers tend to be  
> creative and
> cheap.  I can't see Epson succeeding in keeping at least the B&W  
> enthusiasts
> in their proprietary, expensive box.  It's just not going to happen.
>
> Paul
> www.PaulRoark.com
>
>
>
>
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