The Recycler Issue 298

THE INSIDE TRACK: 

Katun’s Yvonne Dessauvagie on 10 years 

in the industry. Page 34 

WIDE-FORMAT: 

CAD has hooks in the move from 

2D to 3D printing. Starts page 36 

years 

CELEBRATING TWENTY FIVE YEARS 

OF THE RECYCLER MAGAZINE 

• 

www.therecycler.com Issue 298 l SEPTEMBER 2017 l £10 

A growing market for private label 

wide-format media 

David Rocheleau, Senior Analyst and Director at Lightwords Imaging, discusses 

how the Wide-Format media market is changing. Starts Page 4 

The Recycler speaks to Benjamin Young, one of the founders 

and CEO of Speed Infotech. Starts page 40 

INSIDE: 

CET GROUP’S GLOBAL BUSINESS p14 

More acquisitions and deals 

HP INC OVERRULED IN p17 

DUTCH COURT 

Dutch Court of Appeal ruled 

EU ECOLABLE FOR IE TO BE p24 

DISCONTINUED 

The Ecolable for IE will be discontinued 

THE STAPLES SAGA 

p32 

The acquisition is moving forward 

RETAIL COLUMN: 

p44 

The foundation of great companies

27.–30.1.2018, Frankfurt am Main 

paperworld.messefrankfurt.com 

Paperworld 2018 – 

Business matchmaking 

• Reach your target prospects 

• Maintain your customer 

relationships 

• Increase your brand awareness 

• Showcase your new capabilities 

• Paperworld – connecting your 

business world to people around 

the world 

Powered by 

Visit www.therecycler.com/live for more information

TOP READS 

Top Reads 

The Penguins conquer 

Germany 

Karl Kallinger, the former board member of 

KMP and Managing Director of Pelikan 

Hardcopy Germany, becomes an advisor to 

the Berlin printer accessory retailer 

Tonerdumping. They signed an exclusive 

retailer marketing agreement with Ninestar 

for the nationwide marketing of Ninestar’s 

brand, G&G. “For this goal, we need 

someone with rich experience and 

networking in the industry. That is why we 

are very glad and grateful to work with Karl 

Kallinger in the future. Hardly anyone knows 

the German printer accessories market as 

well as he does. With Ninestar and Karl 

Kallinger, we bring together the absolute top 

players in the industry,” says Tonerdumping 

CEO Daniel Orth. 

See page 10 

European CEOs prepare to 

spend 

Economic improvements and political 

stability are pointing to an increase in 

investment. A Bloomberg article explores 

how Stoxx Europe 600 Index Members are 

set to spend an average of around €19.5 

million ($22 million) on building factories 

and renewing old equipment, in what is 

forecasted to be the biggest year-on-year 

increase in such spending for more than a 

decade. Europe’s stabilising political 

landscape, together with recent improvements 

in the region’s economy, has inspired 

business leaders to return to capital 

expenditure. 

See page 16 

Brother settles patent 

dispute 

The OEM announced that the patent 

dispute with a German toner and drum 

distributor has been settled. The news was 

announced in a company press release and 

said that Brother Industries Ltd had received 

“substantial damage compen-sation” after it 

took out a successful infringement action on 

the toner and drum distributor in 2016. 

Once the infringement action was filed the 

distributor acknowledged that it had used 

patented technology from Brother before 

the case came to court. 

See page 24 

Aster and Static go to court 

In June Aster filed a complaint with a US 

court for declaratory relief of patent noninfringement 

against Static Control, which 

was responded to by Static Control filing a 

lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the 

Central District of California for patent 

infringement. On 29 June, Static Control 

sent a letter to Aster Graphics notifying the 

company of infringement of the ‘742 and 

‘949 patents. The letter, sent with hopes of 

finding a solution outside of the courts, 

requested Aster Graphics to cease its 

infringing activity. 

See page 11 

Canon awarded 

$4.5 million 

On Monday 19 June 2017 a jury at the US 

District Court for the Northern District of 

Georgia, Atlanta Division, found that two 

companies had infringed Canon’s toner 

bottle patent 7, 647, 012, relating to toner 

bottles produced to supply the Canon 

imageRUNNER copier/MFP. General Plastic 

Industrial Co. Ltd has been ordered to pay 

$3.7 million (€3.1 mullion) in damages, 

while Color Imaging has been ordered to 

pay $730, 000 (€618,000). 

See page 18 

New study: Mapping the 

Impact of China and Thirdparty 

Supplies 

InfoTrends’ new study “Sizing Ink & Toner E- 

Commerce: Mapping the Impact of China 

and Third-party Supplies” will help ink and 

toner OEMs better understand the threats of 

the e-commerce marketplace. According to 

the study purchasing supplies through e- 

commerce marketplaces is risky for both 

OEMs and end users. Preliminary results 

from InfoTrends’ Business Purchasing 

Survey show about 20 percent of businesses 

report they “shop the internet” among the 

top two ways in which they buy ink and 

toner cartridges. 

See page 30 

HP Inc counterfeit products 

seized 

Nigerian authorities seized 167,000 fake HP 

printing products, which included cartridges 

and fake security labels which were found 

after raids. The counterfeits were mostly 

made up of cartridges and fake security 

labels and packaging which if sold on the 

market could cause numerous problems for 

consumers such as performance and 

reliability issues the report said and if these 

items caused damage to printers there 

could also be issueswith warranties which 

may become void. 

See page 14 

Toshiba chips business 

sale on hold 

Toshiba Corporation has filed an update to 

the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya 

Stock Exchange on the court hearing 

on 14 July at the Superior Court of 

California for the County of San Francisco, 

on the motion for preliminary injunctive 

relief made by SanDisk LLC a subsidiary 

of Western Digital Corporation. At the 14 

July hearing, the Judge proposed a 

solution and did not order a preliminary 

injunctive. Instead, the Judge proposed 

Toshiba give two weeks’ notice to SanDisk 

before Toshiba closes the sale of its 

memory business for the period until the 

arbitration panel can be formed. 

See page 21 

THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 298 • SEPTEMBER 2017 

3

Feature 


Wide-Format media 

David Rocheleau, Senior Analyst and Director at Lightwords Imaging, discusses how the Wide-Format media market is changing as the 

sector sees its range of applications grow, with an opportunity available for private label media producers. 

As applications for Wide-Format printing continue to expand, the 

market for all types of media continues to be lucrative for a wide 

range of resellers. In 2016, LightWords estimates that the market for 

Wide-Format media in North America and Europe combined will 

exceed $9 billion dollars (see Figure 1). 

While aqueous media is an important component of this market, 

solvent and latex media account for more than 90 percent of its total 

value. And solvent/latex media isn’t just a larger portion of the entire 

Wide-Format market. It’s also growing at a faster rate than the 

market for aqueous media. LightWords forecasts that the market 

value of solvent/latex media in Europe and North America will 

increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent 

through 2019. 

This is occurring because applications for solvent and latex 

media generally involve more print area and are produced by 

Figure 1: Wide-Format Synthetic Media Market North America 

& Europe 2016 

Other 

Polypropylene 

Polyethylene 

teraphthalate 

Polyethylene 

Polyvinyl 

chloride 

2016 Value: $9.2 billion Source: Lightworks Imagaing 2016 

printers that are wider and much faster compared with those 

producing aqueous output. Comparing the print output for a 

building wrap or streetscape banners to that used for photos or 

posters provides a good illustration of this point. Despite the size of 

this market though, it nevertheless remains fragmented in terms of 

the wide range of suppliers, choices in ink technology and most 

importantly, media substrates. 

Today the level of marketing intensity has increased markedly as 

OEMs, traditional mills and private label brands offered by resellers 

all compete for brand awareness and preference in an increasingly 

crowded market. Attractive pricing, a wide range of sizes and 

coatings together with loyalty programs are causing Print Service 

Providers (PSPs) to reconsider private label brands in place of 

traditional media brands for a growing number of applications. 

Increasingly PSPs see little difference between private-label 

alternatives and their OEM and traditional mill brand alternatives. In 

addition, the proliferation of substrates and their universal ink 

compatibility with aqueous, solvent, latex and UV inks makes it 

more difficult than ever to select media that combines the right mix 

of performance and reasonable cost. 

Add in the growth of Wide-Format printing within commercial 

printers who have limited brand loyalty, buy from traditional printing 

channels and have a strong sensitivity to price and you have the 

market conditions in which private label products can flourish. 

Key market trends 

As media choices in developed markets in North America and 

Europe become more commoditised, delivery and service have 

become increasingly important. Delivery times are shortening 

4 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 298 • SEPTEMBER 2017

Fast order turnaround and large inventories of high 

“demand products have become critical components 

“ 

significantly and so service, support and turnaround times have 

become more important points of differentiation for PSPs. 

Fast order turnaround and large inventories of high demand 

products have become critical components in this competitive 

environment. PSPs are faced with shorter delivery times and 

accelerated production schedules and do not want to hold media 

inventory. This will continue to put more pressure on media resellers 

to differentiate themselves with competitive service. 

Another important trend has been the growth in latex printing 

applications. Latex printing has emerged as a key ink technology 

that is being used for a growing range of indoor and outdoor 

applications. Its durability, colour range and low cost have made it 

an outstanding alternative as a versatile choice for many PSPs. As a 

result, there is a growing demand for media that works well with both 

solvent and latex printers. 

One of the key trends emerging from this development is media 

that is designed for both solvent and latex ink applications. Media 

that had previously been designed solely for solvent ink applications 

are increasingly being qualified for use with latex ink. As a result, the 

line between solvent media and latex media for applications like 

street furniture and billboards, trade show graphics, banners and 

stadium signage is increasingly converging. OEMs, resellers and 

private-label brands are now marketing many of their solvent and 

eco-solvent media products as compatible with latex inks. In fact 

the distinction between the two types of media is gradually 

disappearing entirely. 

While a lot of market attention has been focused on the growth in 

outdoor applications and latex printing specifically, décor and textile 

printing have also emerged as hot areas of interest. LightWords’ 

‘Wide-Format Application Service’ has monitored this trend for more 

than two years and forecasts growth of more than 25 percent 

annually through 2018 for both of these application segments 

(see Figure 2). 

Figure 2: Worldwide Wide-Format Graphic Applications Markets 

More substrates 

Increasing demand has pushed manufacturers and coaters to 

expand the selection of substrates to address new market niches 

with products offering better performance at significantly lower cost. 

A wide range of synthetic media products using PVC (polyvinyl 

chloride), PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) PE (polyethylene), HDPE 


(high density polyethylene) and PP (polypropylene) as their basic 

substrates are now widely available from OEMs, converters and 

resellers selling private-label branded products. These substrates 

give media unique performance characteristics such as durability, 

tear and scratch resistance or translucence which make them ideal 

for specific applications such as indoor and outdoor posters and 

banners, building and vehicle wraps, lightbox and backlit displays 

as well as trade show and window graphics. 

PVC is the most widely used of these substrates accounting for 

more than 40 percent of the market revenue for synthetic Wide- 

Format media in North America and Europe. It is an ideal choice for 

indoor and outdoor banners. PE accounts for less than a third of 

market revenue and is also a popular choice as a synthetic 

substrate that is sold as a banner material or in its high density form 

(HDPE) as Tyvek for outdoor applications. PP is also popular as an 

emerging choice in synthetic media as a less durable but also less 

expensive alternative to both PVC and PE media for banners, 

posters and display graphics. PET features optical translucence that 

makes it ideal for back lit and lightbox applications. It’s relatively 

expensive but durable with excellent optical properties. 

Branding and distribution channels 

As the market for Wide-Format media has expanded, branding and 

distribution have become more critical to success. While the market 

for aqueous Wide-Format printing has traditionally centered around 

applications including photography, fine arts and indoor graphics, 

solvent, latex and UV printing have expanded the market into 

industrial and commercial printing applications. 

Most major Wide-Format 

media brands have been 

aligned primarily by ink technology 

and by extension, 

applications. For outdoor 

printing applications using 

solvent inks, major brands 

have included 3M, Arlon, 

Avery, General Form-ulations, 

Mactac, Neschen, Oracal and 

UltraFlex. 

Each of these brands has an extensive line of media in featuring 

a variety of weights, widths and adhesives that address major 

segments of the market for solvent and latex printing applications. 

These applications include outdoor banners and posters, building 

and vehicle wraps and outdoor display graphics. While each of 

these brands is sold in both North America and Europe, there are 

differences in distribution channels in each region. 

In North America these brands are sold through national sign 

wholesalers who feature these brands as one line of media. 

Companies such as Grimco, Fellers and Reece typify this channel. 

Other more diversified resellers include Pitman (Agfa) and LexJet. 

It’s worth noting that these resellers are able to provide their 

customers with premium brands more cost effectively because of 

their large sales volumes. 

5

FEATURE: A growing market for private label Wide-Format media 

In Europe leading distributors include Antalis, Metamark and 

Spandex. While their volumes are quite high, these distributors are 

more diversified also selling media products that are outside of the 

market for Wide-Format printing. As a result, Wide-Format product 

selection in Europe is limited to a smaller range of SKUs. 

If we look at the major 

brands of aqueous Wide- 

Format media in North 

America and Europe, we 

see a different picture 

emerging altogether. 

Coveris / Magic, HP, 

LexJet and Sihl are some of the leading brands of aqueous Wide- 

Format media sold in both Europe and North America. 

However these brands are also sold through a wider distribution 

channel compared to solvent/latex media that includes resellers 

marketing printer hardware and ink supplies as well as paper 

merchants and distributors. Clampitt Paper, LexJet, Pitman (Agfa), 

Spicers and Staples Technology Solutions are good examples of 

these channels. 

Private-label brands 

Perhaps not surprisingly, what has been a consistent trend among 

distributors and resellers in both North America and Europe, has 

been the emergence of private-label reseller brands. This is a 

tangible sign of how important these channels have become. Where 

once OEM brands from HP, Canon, Epson and other printer 

manufacturers dominated the market for Wide-Format media, over 

the last three years private label brands have emerged as a 

dominant force in the market for both aqueous and solvent/latex 

media. We can see this clearly when looking at some of the major 

Wide-Format media distributors of North America and Europe. 

For instance in North America Pitman (Agfa) promotes its own 

private label brands (Graphix aqueous media and Duratex solvent 

media) when searching for some of the most popular types of Wide- 

Format media products. LexJet does the same thing by heavily 

promoting its own brand over its competitors. In the case of both 

Pitman and LexJet, each company offers scores of SKUs of their 

own private label branded products as alternatives to other longestablished 

media brands that they also offer. Other leading 

resellers and distributors in the U.S. also heavily promote their own 

private label brands including Montroy with its Moncor brand and 

Tierney with its Vitaliti brand. 

In Europe the situation is similar. Some of the leading distributors 

in Europe also heavily promote their own private label brand of 

Wide-Format media. They include Spandex selling its own 

ImagePerfect brand of solvent/latex media and Art Systems with its 

Xativa brand of aqueous and solvent/latex. Two other leading Wide- 

Format media distributors in Europe, Metamark and ID Numerique 

sell private label products using their own brands of Metamark for 

solvent/latex media and ID Numerique for its line of aqueous media). 

Picture of Private Label Brands 

In most cases the marketing message is the same; provide a 

competitive line of products with equivalent or better performance 

compared with traditional media brands at a lower price. Adding 

volume discounts, custom designed service agreements and loyalty 

programs only makes the offer more attractive. For PSPs who 

continue to face more competition and declining margins from their 

print customers the message is certainly an attractive one. 

While private label brands have increased their market presence 

over the last few years, OEM brands have appeared to become less 

important. Specifically the channel breadth of OEM media brands 

has declined where fewer dealers and distributors carry HP, Canon 

and Epson Wide-Format media compared to several years ago. At 

the same time, major printer OEMs appear to have reduced the 

number of SKUs they offer, preferring to concentrate their media 

product line in areas where there is high application demand. 

Looking ahead 

As we look forward it is clear that for a significant part of the market, 

influence is shifting away from specific media brands and towards 

the distribution channel as a whole. As Wide-Format media products 

continue to become commoditised, PSPs will increasingly see fewer 

product differences between premium-priced brands and their 

private label alternatives. In this scenario, differences between 

delivery and service levels will become critical to resellers. And as 

media products become more commoditised profit margins 

inevitably decline. This is sure to give resellers and distributors 

offering private label products more influence in the market. 

However at the same time, it will remain critical to meet the 

expectations that PSPs have about price/performance for Wide- 

Format applications. 

OEMs, with their premium priced media brands under pressure, 

will have to further differentiate themselves based on specific 

performance attributes. Lightwords expects to see more “in 

application” performance warrantees from OEMs when PSPs print 

with a system based approach i.e. using matched media and ink 

with approved software and hardware profiling and, certified 

application when in use. 

This is not to say that there will be no room for premium brands. 

LightWords believes that there will continue to be a place for these 

brands. But it does suggest that they will have to work harder to 

differentiate themselves from private label products that are often far 

less expensive with in many cases, acceptable product quality. It 

also suggests that premium priced products will be likely to find 

most of their demand in high value applications like fine art 

reproduction, photography and textile graphics where high prices 

for the finished product justify the investment in selecting premium 

brand media. 

R 


IN THIS ISSUE 

In this Issue 

A growing market for 

private label Wide- 

Format media 

The Wide-Format media market 

is changing as the sector sees its 

range of applications grow, with 

an opportunity available for 

private label media producers. 

Starts page 4 

The Inkjet 

Renaissance 

The Recycler speaks to 

Benjamin Young, one of the 

founders and CEO of Speed 

Infotech, who shared some 

insights into their business. 

Starts page 40 

4: FEATURE: 


Wide-Format media 

World Focus 

10: The Penguins conquer Germany; US 

Customs takes action against Inksac 

11: Aster and Static go to court; New owners for 

HQ Patronen 

12: Ecologic collects 145,000 tonnes of WEEE 

in France; Legal action against Lexmark 

14: CET Group further extends Global business; 

HP Inc counterfeit products seized 

16: Commercial Copy Innovations (CCI) files 

lawsuits against Xerox, Lexmark and 

Brother; European CEOs prepare to spend 

17: HP Inc overruled in Dutch Court of Appeal; 

The right to repair 

18: Canon awarded $4.5 million (€3.81 million) 

in toner bottle patent dispute 

City News 

20: Jadi Imaging sells land; HP Inc selling 

Lexlip site; Brother partners to channel 

managed print 

21: Messe Frankfurt 2016 highest results; 

Toshiba chips business sale on hold 

23: EDITORIAL 

Around the Industry 

24: EU Ecolabel for IE is being discontinued; 

Brother settles patent dispute 

25: Jadi Imaging announces B2B platform; 

Personnel changes at Color Imaging; wta 

Carsten Weser appoints new collection 

manager 

26: MFP market growth; GIT wins another 

business award and achieves ‘A’- rating; 

A new self-service MPS offer? 

27: HP Inc is looking to get complaints case 

dismissed; KMP Apprentice receives award 

28: Next UKCRA meeting announced; 

News from ARMOR; LD Products website 

has new function 

29: CIG announces custom content marketing 

solutions; Static Control Africa operation 

moves to larger space 

30: Ninestar – Innovation is the key; New 

study: Mapping the Impact of China and 

Third-party Supplies 

31: Epson in court to fight multiple patent 

infringements 

32: Saga settled as Staples prepares to sell up 

to Sycamore 

34: THE INSIDE TRACK: Katun’s Yvette 

Dessauvagie on 10 years in the industry 

36: WIDE FORMAT COLUMN: 

CAD has hooks in the move from 2D to 

3D printing 

40: FEATURE: 

The Inkjet Renaissance 

44: RETAIL COLUMN: 

The foundation of great companies 

Products & Technology 

46: Apex releases new replacement chips and 

chip resetting solution; Aster launches 

second Brother series 

47: New Pantum models to be released; 

New products from PPC Solutions Ltd; 

Jet Tec expands inkjet cartridge range 

48: Ninestar releases cartridges for Brother; 

IR Italiana Riprografia announces new 

Graphic-jet cartridges ; PRINTek releases 

new products; Printlife extends ownbranded 

cartridges 

49: New remanufactured Canon cartridges 

from wta 

50: New products launched by ARMOR; 

CIG announces new remanufactured 

cartridges 

51: Embatex and Turbon launch HP LJ Pro 

M252 X cartridges and more; Katun 

launches new Accessory Products 

Catalogue 


WORLD FOCUS 

visit www.therecycler.com for all the breaking news 

EUROPE Ninestar, Distribution, Germany 

The Penguins conquer Germany 

Karl Kallinger, a former board member of KMP, and Tonerdumping have signed an agreement with Ninestar to market G&G Cartridges in 

the German market. 

Karl Kallinger, the former board member of 

KMP and Managing Director of Pelikan 

Hardcopy Germany, becomes an advisor to 

the Berlin printer accessory retailer 

Tonerdumping. They signed an exclusive 

retailer marketing agreement with Ninestar 

for the nationwide marketing of Ninestar’s 

brand, G&G. 

“For this goal, we need someone with rich 

experience and networking in the industry. 

That is why we are very glad and grateful to 

work with Karl Kallinger in the future. Hardly 

anyone knows the German printer accessories 

market as well as he does. With Ninestar and 

Karl Kallinger, we bring together the 

absolute top players in the industry,” says 

Tonerdumping CEO Daniel Orth. 

Karl Kallinger was Managing Director of 

Pelikan Hardcopy Deutschland for ten years 

before joining KMP’s board of directors. Under 

his leadership, both suppliers became leading 

brands in the German alternative printer 

accessories market. In the future, Kallinger will 

bring his experience to the exclusive 

partnership between Tonerdumping and 

Ninestar. 

“With the G&G brand, Ninestar has the best 

GLOBAL USITC, IP, Seizure Order 

prerequisites in Germany’s highly competitive 

market for printer accessories. Successfully 

creating this is another exciting challenge that 

I am very fond of,” says Karl Kallinger. 

Ninestar is an alternative ink and toner 

producer. In Zhuhai, China, the factory can 

produce 20 million toner cartridges annually 

along with 100 million ink cartridges and 30 

million ribbon cartridges. The Ninestar Group 

also owns the Static Control and Apex chiming 

systems, the printer manufacturer Pantum 

and, since 2016, Lexmark. Ninestar produces 

printer accessory products for many different 

trade brands. In the future, the Chinese will 

increasingly rely on the G&G brand. In 

Germany, Tonerdumping will officially market 

the G&G brand as a distributor. 

“We have been working with Tonerdumping 

US Customs takes action against Inksac 



for a very long time, successfully and 

confidently. With many years of experience in 

various trading platforms, they are the ideal 

partner for us to make our brand known in 

Germany,” says Oleg Zhao, Managing Director 

of Seine Holland B.V. 

Since 2003, Tonerdumping has been selling 

printer accessories through an online shop 

and in 22 stores in Berlin, Brandenburg and 

Hamburg. With an annual turnover of more 

than 10 million euros, the specialist belongs 

to the most important ink and toner dealers 

in Germany. In April 2017, the Computer- 

BILD awarded the Tonerdumping online 

shop as a top Shop in the category “Office, 

Technology and Media”. 

Tonerdumping Managing Director 

Friedbert Baer goes on to say, “We are not 

only convinced by the quality of inks and 

toners from Ninestar, we are also convinced 

by the professional approach and demeanour 

of the Chinese. We do not know any other 

alternative ink and toner manufacturer that 

has such a large development and patent 

department. We are sure that the cartridges 

with the penguins will soon convince many 

customers in Germany. “ 

Inksac Corp has been issued with two seizure and forfeiture orders by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in as many days. 

US Customs detained a shipment of inkjet 

inks and supplies in breach of a General 

Exclusion Order No. 337-TA-565 issued to 

Epson and on 16 June 2017 the ITC issued a 

Seizure and Forfeiture Order against the 

company for the detained goods. 

One day later on 17 June 2017 the ITC 

issued a second Seizure and Forfeiture Order 

against the company following a similar 

action by US Customs who detained a 

shipment of inkjet inks and supplies in breach 

of a General Exclusion Order No. 337-TA-691 

issued to Hewlett-Packard. 

Remanexpo: Product Group 

Connecting people and businesses 

The dedicated part of the event focused on reuse and 

remanufacturing of printer cartridges 

Powered by 

To find out more, visit www.therecycler.com/live 

Inksac Corp was incorporated in March 

2008 and is based in Renton, Washington 

State, and according to US Customs records 

has been importing containers of products 

since 2007. Inksac has been actively trading 

on eBay since December 2005 and over the 

last twelve months has established a five-star 

(99.2 percent) rating. The Inksac eBay store 

carries a range of over 800 mostly imaging 

consumables. The principle is Yao Yu Li. 

These two seizure and forfeiture orders 

brings to ten the number that the ITC has 

issued to nine companies so far in 2017. 


You can contact The Recycler via Twitter at @RecyclerMedia 

WORLD FOCUS 

EUROPE Aster Graphics, Static Control, IP, Lawsuit 

Aster and Static go to court 

In June Aster filed a complaint with a US court for declaratory relief of patent noninfringement 

against Static Control which was responded to by Static Control filing a lawsuit 

in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for patent infringement. 

On 29 June, Static Control sent a letter to 

Aster Graphics notifying the company 

of infringement of the ‘742 and ‘949 

patents. The letter, sent with hopes 

of finding a solution outside of the 

courts, requested Aster Graphics to 

cease its infringing activity. 

Static then advised Aster that if it 

did not receive a satisfactory response by 

10 July it was prepared to take action against the 

company without further notice and reserved 

the right to seek injunctive relief and damages. 

Because of these actions there is controversy 

between the two companies as to whether 

Aster’s laser toner cartridge products infringe 

the 742 and 949 patents and Aster is seeking a 

declaratory judgement of non-infringement and 

demands a trial by jury on all issues so Aster filed 

a complaint on 7 July 2017. 

On 17 July Static Control sued Aster Graphics 

for patent infringement alleging that Aster 

Graphics is infringing two of Static Control 

patents relating to dongle gear designs used in 

various Canon and HP laser cartridges. The 

patents are U.S. patent 9,671,742 B2 (‘742) and 

9,599,949 B2 (‘949). 

“We made all the necessary motions to avoid 

a lawsuit,” said Skip London, Static Control’s 

General Counsel, “…but Aster’s decision to 

continue infringing our IP left us no other choice 

but to take legal action.” 

In response to the filed lawsuit by Static 

Control Aster Graphics issued a statement: 

“On the 29th of June we received a letter from 

Static Control Corporation (SCC), a Ninestar 

affiliate, accusing Aster Graphics of violating 

their dongle gear patents. We carefully reviewed 

SCC’s allegations and did not see any proof of 

their claims of violation. We welcomed a 

discussion with SCC as we sought an explanation 

to their accusation. Surprisingly, the very next 

day, SCC and its affiliated companies informed 

Aster’s major customers of their allegations, 

including the false and misleading claim that 

Static Control has taken “legal action” against 



Aster. Aster is being damaged by the 

dissemination of these unfounded 

allegations by Static Control’s parent 

and affiliated companies. 

In order to protect its interests, on 

Friday, July 7, Aster filed a lawsuit 

against SCC for a declaratory 

judgment of non-infringement of the 

Ninestar ‘742 and ‘949 patents. 

In an effort to resolve actual and potential 

claims between Aster and Static Control, Aster is 

prepared to delay service of the complaint for a 

period of time to allow discussions between the 

parties, with the hope to address the issue 

outside of legal action. On July 10, Aster sent a 

communication to SCC’s General Counsel 

expressing its willingness to resolve the matter 

outside of the court system. 

It is our firm belief that SCC’s claims are 

baseless as they are broadly overstating the 

protection of their patents. We view SCC’s claim 

as an illegitimate tactic to limit Aster Graphic’s 

success in the USA market. 

It should also be noted that Aster Graphics 

was granted its own patent by the US Patent and 

Trademark Office (Patent No. 8731435) in May, 

2014 and by the German Patent and Trademark 

Office (Patent Nos. DE212014000227, 

DE202016103441) in July, 2016. These patents 

are for the Aster Graphics design solution for 

“dongle” gear cartridges sold in the United 

States and Europe. We are committed to 

providing our customers IP compliant products 

that utilize our ingenuity and provide value to 

the marketplace. 

Since our inception in 2011, Aster Graphics 

has made innovation a core business initiative. 

Our respect for the intellectual property rights 

and patents of all third parties, whether OEM or 

aftermarket manufacturers, is a paramount 

principle. After six years, this strategy has 

catapulted Aster Graphics to a leadership 

position in the industry as we have consistently 

provided patented and quality product choices 

for our customers.” 

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EUROPE HQ Patronen, Acquisition, Retail 

New owners for 

HQ Patronen 

The German online cartridge reseller 

HQ Patronen has been taken over by 

the German IT reseller Cyberport. 

Channel Partner reported that the 

acquisition of HQ Patronen will 

strengthen the office imaging supplies 

offering of Cyberport and compliment 

the already existing offering of IT 

products and therefore enable the whole 

company growth. 

HQ-Patronen GmbH was started in 

2006 and specializes in Europe-wide 

distribution of toner, ink and office 

supplies. The company is headquartered 

in Seevetal and in 2013 opened 

a fully equipped logistic centre in 

Hamburg Hafencity. 

Speaking to Channel Partner Aliz 

Tepfenhart, Chairman of Cyberport said 

“We are looking forward to the intensive 

collaboration with HQ cartridges, both 

in the customer and in the product area. 

With the purchase, Cyberport gets an even 

bigger footprint in the market and can at 

the same time play its strength in service 

and consulting.” 

HQ Patronen’s Managing Director, 

Benjamin Maurer, told Channel Partner: 

“With Cyberport, we have a strong 

partner who ideally complements our 

distribution channels around Omnichannel 

Services and enables us to 

continuously expand our customer base. 

We are delighted that Cyberport has been 

able to inspire us with a company which 

explicitly focuses on customer requirements 

and quality As well as service, as we 

see it, as the top priority.” 

HQ Patronen GmbH will be working 

as an independent subsidiary of 

Cyberport and Benjamin Maurer and 

Stefan Siebenberg will continue to run it. 

The takeover is subject to approval by 

the German cartel authorities. 


11

WORLD FOCUS 

Search for The Recycler on Facebook for more news and industry coverage 

EUROPE WEEE, Ecologic, France 

Ecologic collects 145,000 tonnes of WEEE 

in France 

The French partner to WEEElogic has collected and treated over 145,000 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste in compliance 

with WEEE directives. 

Ecologic, the French compliance 

and take back scheme has 

published its annual report in 

compliance with legal requirements 

and in line with the French 

Environmental Agency that 

collates the country’s collection 

and recycling performance. 

Ecologic collected over 145,000 

tonnes of e-waste which consisted 

of; consumer electronics, consumer 

goods, toys, tools, cooling and freezing 

appliances, air conditioning, ventilation 

systems, TV’s and Hifi, IT, printers and all 

electrical and electronics equipment in line 

with circular economy. 

More than 20,195 tonnes were collected 

from professional users such as IT, copying 

equipment, printers, telecommunications and 

professional catering. Ecologic has increased 

its collection by 30 percent which is mainly 

due to lower material prices and many tonnes 

have been redirected to local authority 

collection points. 

Ecologic said that it had been a 

very challenging year for B2C and 

B2B WEEE collection performance 

due to renewed government 

approvals of B2B and professional 

kitchen waste which Ecologic is 

approved to manage. 

The company also said that it 

has reinforced its quality in 

environmental management and 

control, to be able to maintain the level of 

performance, audits and services and that it 

considers its involvement within WEEElogic as 

a duty for a better future due to management, 

efficiency and control and expects to continue 

its improvements in years to come. 

EUROPE Lexmark, Lawsuits, Business 

Legal action against Lexmark 

Lundin Law PC and Khang & Khang LLP announced Securities Class Action lawsuit against Lexmark International, Inc., and 

encourage investors with losses to contact the firms. 

Lundin Law PC, a shareholder rights 

firm, announced the filing of a class 

action lawsuit against Lexmark 

International, Inc. for possible 

violations of federal securities laws 

between August 1, 2014 and July 20, 

2015, inclusive. Investors who 

purchased or otherwise acquired 

shares during the Class Period 

should contact the firm prior to the 

September 19, 2017 lead plaintiff 

motion deadline. 

Three days later Khang & Khang 

LLP announced the filing of their 

securities class action lawsuit 

against Lexmark International Inc 

on the same grounds. 

According to the complaint, 

throughout the above mentioned period, 

Lexmark made materially false and/or 

misleading statements, and/or failed to 

disclose, that: end-user demand and growth 

for the company’s supplies business was 

deteriorating; that pricing increases were 

the primary driver of supplies revenue 

growth, not end-user demand; that 

customers in the supplies channel reacted 

by buying ahead of anticipated pricing 

increases; and that as a result, there were 

excessive inventory levels at its European 

wholesale distributors. 

On July 21, 2015, Lexmark reported poor 

results for its second quarter ending June 30, 

2015 and lowered its 2015 sales guidance. 

The company revealed its supplies growth 

was not attributable to end-user demand but 

rather the result of its European customers 

buying ahead of customary price 

increases which produced excessive 

inventory. Upon release of this news, 

shares of Lexmark fell in value 

materially, which caused investors 

harm according to the complaint. 

No class has been certified in the 

above action yet. 

Shareholders are now taking 

action and Law Offices of Howard G. 

Smith announced an investigation 

on behalf of Lexmark International, 

Inc. shareholders concerning the 

company and its officers’ possible 

violations of federal securities laws. 

The investigation concerns 

whether the company adequately 

disclosed sharp declines in its 

revenues for the second quarter 

2015 results. 

On this news, shares of Lexmark fell 

sharply in value, thereby damaging 

investors. 

The period in question pre-dates the 

acquisition of Lexmark by the Ninestar 

Corporation (formally Apex Technology Co. 

Ltd) in November 2016. 


WORLD FOCUS 

Contact the news team at news@therecycler.com 

GLOBAL CET, Nu-Tone, Paulimac 

CET Group further extends Global business 

The Chinese company has struck a new merger and distribution deal to continue an expansive 2017. 

CET Group has carried on a year of growth 

and expansion with two new deals announced 

this summer. These comprise a brand new 

distribution agreement with Nu-Tone, and a 

significant merger with Paulimac. 

Canadian company Nu-Tone, an alternative 

printing products distributor and 

manufacturer, have officially become the sole 

distributor of CET products in Canada. The 

Quebec-based outfit, who have over 

seventeen years of experience in the digital 

imaging industry, aim to become the premier 

printer and copier supply company in 

Eastern Canada, and have set their sights 

higher still. A CET press release announced 

their intention to aid Nu-Tone not just in 

achieving that goal but to help them attain 

superiority across the entire nation. 

According to the press release announcing 

the deal, there is plenty of common ground 

between the two companies, despite their 

geographical differences, with both Nu-Tone 

and CET “constantly striving to excel and 

innovate.” The Quebecois are described by 

CET as a company that will develop high 

quality product and solutions, and “attractive 

and appealing alternatives for all its 

customers.” Martin Dagenais, both President 

and Owner of Nu-Tone, has said his company 

will commit to the customers of CET Group 

to guarantee a smooth transition, as well as 

offering increased benefits to clients in the 

Canadian market. These reportedly include 

faster shipping across Canada, as well as 

decreased shipping costs, alongside a 

consistent stock of quality products. 

It hasn’t been the only exciting news to 

come from CET Group recently, with a longdiscussed 

merger with Brazilian company 

Paulimac finally receiving the green light. 

Negotiations, involving both CET Group 

President Stephen Ma and Senior Manager of 

their USA branch Elizabeth Barbosa, had been 

happening over the last six months, with a 

deal being reached in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on the 

last day of May. The new company will now be 

known as ‘Paulimac & CET Group Brasil’. The 

merger includes several key assets of 

PAULIMAC, who were founded in 1986, ten 

years prior to CET Group. Paulimac’s estate, 

buildings and warehouses are all included in 

the agreement, as is their toner cartridge 

refilling factory, Benfica, which will from now 

on be known as ‘Benfica & CET Group Brasil’. 

Paulimac play a key role in the Brazilian 

compatible spare parts and consumables 

industry, and has, over the last three decades, 

established a reputation as a high-quality 

product developer and a professional 

technical servicer. As Paulimac & CET Group 

Brasil, the newly-merged companies aim to 

provide Brazilian clients with both high 

quality products and services, as well as clients 

across the wider South American region. In 

order to strengthen the market’s 

development, the Group have pledged to 

manufacture copier cartridges and expand 

toner filling lines to meet their needs. CET 

have also spoken of the positive effect the 

merger will have on the corporate culture and 

development of the wider CET Group. 

The pair of developments in the Americas 

mark the latest chapter of what has been a 

busy year for CET Group, who celebrated 

their twentieth anniversary in November 

2016. In March of this year, the supplier set up 

their first subsidiary in Russia, in a bid to 

improve service and offer “fully scaled 

professional solutions.” The Moscow-based 

branch will be responsible for all of CET’s 

business not only in Russia, but Eastern 

Europe and Central Asia as well. This 

expansion was followed in April by a merger 

with Spanish supply company Reprovego 

Export, S.L., with the aim of delivering CET 

products and services to customers across the 

Iberian Peninsula. It will not be the group’s 

last movements of 2017, either, with the 

planned opening of fifth subsidiary Yingmei 

Technology Co., Ltd., and a relocation of its 

existing manufacturing operations to the 

Caofeidian Industrial Zone in Tangshan City, 

Beijing. The move, forecast to create 300 new 

jobs within the company, is scheduled to be 

completed by the end of this year. 

IMEA Counterfeits, HP Inc, Nigeria 

HP Inc counterfeit products seized 

Nigerian authorities seized 167,000 fake HP printing products which included cartridges and fake security labels which were 

found after raids. 

Nigeria Today reported that the items which 

were “branded as HP products” were seized 

during raids by Nigerian security officers. HP’s 

Anti-Counterfeiting and Fraud Programme 

(ACF) supplied key intelligence to authorities 

and identified the items as fake. 

The counterfeits were mostly made up of 

cartridges and fake security labels and 

packaging which if sold on the market could 

cause numerous problems for consumers 

such as performance and reliability issues 

the report said and if these items caused 

damage to printers there could also be issues 

with warranties which may become void. 

Olatunji Itiola, Country Supplies Business 

Manager, Nigeria and Ghana, said: “HP is 

delighted that this illegal activity has been 

identified and the defrauding of thousands 

of innocent customers has been prevented. 

We are grateful to the Nigerian authorities 

for their cooperation in this matter. We are 

proud of the continued successes of the ACF 

programme, and we will continue to work 

hard to protect customers from potentially 

dangerous fake printing products.” 

There have been over 12 million 

counterfeits and components seized 

throughout the EMEA during the last five 

years by local authorities backed by HP and 

the OEM itself has conducted more than 

4,500 “audits and inspections of partners 

stocks or suspicious deliveries”. 

HP’s ACF programme is responsible for 

educating its customers and partners on 

what to look out for in counterfeit products 

and works closely with local and worldwide 

law enforcements to find and destroy illegal 

operations that produce fake HP printing 

consumables. 


WORLD FOCUS 


NORTH AMERICA OEMs, Patents, Legal 

Commercial Copy Innovations (CCI) files lawsuits 

against Xerox, Lexmark and Brother 

CCI is suing the OEMs for patent infringements and has determined that it wants a trial by jury and reserves the right to assert 

additional claims. 

In April this year The Recycler reported that 

CCI filed a lawsuit against Ricoh Electronics, 

Inc., Ricoh USA, Inc., Mimaki USA, Inc. and 

Lanier Worldwide, Inc. on 13 March 2017 in 

the United States District Court, Central 

District of California, Southern Division 

claiming that the OEMs had infringed its 

patents which it had bought from Kodak. 

“Commercial Copy Innovations Inc (CCI) 

acquired all rights and titles to the U.S. Patents 

Nos. 6,848,777 (“the’777 Patent”), 6,773,102 

(“the ‘102 Patent”), 6,197,466 (“the ‘466 

Patent”), and 6,453,127 (“the’127 Patent”) 

from the Eastman Kodak Company (“Kodak”) 

and is looking to defend its rights to the 

intellectual property of said patents against 

the defendants”. 

One of the latest lawsuits was filed 5 July 

2017 and CCI claims that Xerox has infringed 

US Patent No. 6,197,466 B1 and US Patent No. 

6,453,127 B2 of which both are owned by CCI 

and it also reserves the right to assert 

additional claims of the 466Patent against 

Xerox. The OEM sells and offers these 

products for sale as part of its printer sales in 

the Central District of California, Southern 

Division. 

Lexmark have also been called to court for 

the infringement of Patent 127 and CCI 

claimed that the OEM had “without authority, 

consent, right, or license, and in direct 

infringement of the ‘127 Patent, Lexmark 

markets, uses, sells, offers for sale, 

manufactures, has manufactured, makes, has 

made, imports, and/or has imported Lexmark 

Printers that directly infringe at least claim 1 of 

the ‘127 Patent.” The infringement complaint 

was filed 6 July 2017. 

CCI has also brought a case for 

infringement against Brother International 

and Brother USA who are engaged in the 

“making and selling, respectively, of the 

Accused Products within and throughout the 

United States. These activities form the basis 

of each entities infringing actions.” Brother is 

accused of infringing patents 466 and 127. 

CCI has requested that all three cases are 

judged by a jury. 

EUROPE CEOs, Spending, Business 

European CEOs prepare to spend 

Economic improvements and political stability are pointing to an increase in investment. 

A Bloomberg article explores how Stoxx 

Europe 600 Index Members are set to spend 

an average of around €19.5 million ($22 

million) on building factories and renewing 

old equipment, in what is forecasted to be 

the biggest year-on-year increase in such 

spending for more than a decade. Europe’s 

stabilising political landscape, together with 

recent improvements in the region’s 

economy, has inspired business leaders to 

return to capital expenditure. 

SEB’s Head of Cross-Asset Strategy, 

Thomas Thygesen, said “Europe is now 

growing in a way that is propelled by 

domestic demand. As a CEO, you can feel 

comfortable in committing to fresh 

equipment, or building a new plant.” After a 

turbulent decade, recent data suggests 

Europe is increasingly able to stand on its 

own, less dependent on export growth and 

a weak currency. Consumer confidence is 

rising, unemployment (currently at an eightyear 

low) is falling and a surge in factory 

orders has prompted the biggest 

manufacturing growth since 2011. Election 

results in the Netherlands and France, 

amongst other places, have also been seen 

as contributing to a renewed marketfriendly 

atmosphere. 

The expected 13 percent increase in 

capital expenditure illustrates a profound 

shift in trend. Recent years have seen 

companies unwilling to commit to longerterm 

projects, despite borrowing costs 

diving due to central bank-easing. Similarly, 

investors seeking a good return have tended 

to favour firms that either bought back 

shares, or paid the best dividends. However, 

Dirk Thiels, Head of Investment at KBC 

Asset Management, claimed “In this 

environment, capital expenditure can be the 

most beneficial. People are no longer 

thinking so defensively in Europe.” 







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WORLD FOCUS 

EUROPE HP, Patents, Cartridges 

HP Inc overruled in Dutch 

Court of Appeal 

The Court of Appeal in the Hague ruled that the cartridges can be used and resold 

despite OEM’s patents and that consumers have a right to use compatibles “provided 

that there is no protection for the cartridge itself”. 

Lexology reported that the decision could have 

“far reaching consequences for manufacturers 

of original appliances which use consumables” 

like ink cartridges that can be bought on the 

“aftermarket”. HP Inc brought the case against 

Digital Revolution (123inkt.nl) for infringement 

of its patent however, it was noted that the 

Court of Appeal ruled that the “sale of 

replacement ink cartridges” should be allowed 

even if “the cartridges relate to an essential part 

of a patented invention” and said that 

consumers should be able to buy compatibles 

“providing there is not protection for the 

cartridge itself ”. However, the Court also 

specified that there could be a different 

outcome if there has been an agreement to 

certain conditions when a printer is bought 

The article also explained that Digital 

Revolution remanufactures OEM cartridges and 

sells them throughout Europe but in this 

instance HP Inc alleged that the company had 

infringed their patent EP 2 170617 (EP617) 

because “all elements of claims 1 and 2 were 

present in the cartridge offered by Digital 

Revolution”, this was rejected by the Court of 

Appeal as it found the claims to be void as well 

as the fact that the claim was filed “too late in 

the proceedings” which is in violation of “the 

principle of due process”. 

Also rejected was HP Inc’s claim of indirect 

infringement and this was due to Article 73 of 

the 1995 Dutch Patent Act (DPA) which 

describes indirect infringement as: “The 

patentee may institute the claims at his disposal 

for enforcing his patent against any person who 

[…] supplies or delivers in or for his business, 

means relating to an essential part of the 

invention to others than those who by virtue of 

Articles 55 to 60 are authorised to work the 

patented invention, […] if that person knows, 

or if that it is evident considering the 

circumstances, that those means are suitable 



and intended for that application.” 

Furthermore the article stated that Digital 

Revolution said that it does not “offer or deliver 

cartridges to anyone other than those 

authorised under the terms of Articles 55 to 60 

[which apply to licensed use] to apply the 

patented invention” and that “if a consumer 

purchases an HP printer for which the 

cartridges offered by Digital Revolution are 

suitable and intended, this implies that a 

license is obtained to use that printer, including 

the method according to claim 7 of EP 617 

which is incorporated in the software of the 

controller of the printer”. 

The Court was in agreement and stated: “It is 

established that the printer only operates with 

a cartridge that has a memory device capable of 

communicating with the printer software so 

that the method of claim 7 can be applied. 

Miscommunication, for example, because the 

memory device is not configured for 

application of that method, irrevocably leads to 

the rejection of the cartridge and thus to the 

printer system not working, as HP has expressly 

stated. Since the purchaser of an HP printer 

expects the printer to function in a normal way, 

that permission […] is also deemed to extend 

to the use of cartridges suitable for that printer 

which do not itself infringe any product 

claim […]”. 

The case is expected to continue in the 

Dutch Supreme Court. 

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NORTH AMERICA Copyright, Technology 

The right to repair 

US Copyright Office wants Congress to 

pass legislation so that customers have 

the right to repair products bought 

from companies who prevent 

consumers from doing this. 

Thehill.com reported that the US Copyright 

Office wrote in a report: “The Office 

recommends against limiting an exemption 

to specific technologies or devices, such as 

motor vehicles, as any statutory language 

would likely be soon outpaced by 

technology. 

“The Office believes these matters are 

better addressed through laws or 

regulations outside of the Copyright Act.” 

However there were no “specific 

recommendations” put forward for a 

written law at this time. 

Over recent years companies like printer 

manufacturers and automobile companies 

state that it is illegal for customers to 

“bypass locks” placed on their products and 

this stops third parties from repairing or 

servicing them. In the farming community 

in Nebraska farmers have been using illegal 

Ukrainian software to override their John 

Deere tractors systems so that they can 

repair them on their own. 

Due to some exemptions granted by the 

Copyright Office on Section 1201 of the 

Digital Millennium Copyrights Act, 

renewable every three years, industry by 

industry, there is now a makeshift set of 

exemptions for some technology but not for 

others. Public comments related to repairs 

relayed to the Office have gone from 750 

comments 2000-2012 to 40,000 in 2015. 

The US Copyright Office argued in its 

report that companies have been using 

section 1201 perversely to the purpose of 

“provision” and stated that: “Virtually all 

agree that section 1201 was not intended to 

facilitate manufacturers’ use of [software 

locks] to facilitate product tying or to 

achieve a lock‐in effect under which 

consumers are effectively limited to repair 

services offered by the manufacturer.” 


17

WORLD FOCUS 


NORTH AMERICA Legal, IP 

Canon awarded $4.5 million (€3.81 million) 

in toner bottle patent dispute 

A US court has found that General Plastic and Color Imaging wilfully infringed Canon’s patent and has awarded a hefty sum in damages. 

On Monday 19 June 2017 a jury at the US 

District Court for the Northern District of 

Georgia, Atlanta Division, found that two 

companies had infringed Canon’s toner bottle 

patent 7, 647, 012, relating to toner bottles 

produced to supply the Canon imageRUNNER 

copier/MFP. 

General Plastic Industrial Co. Ltd has 

been ordered to pay $3.7 million (€3.1 

mullion) in damages, while Color Imaging has 

been ordered to pay $730, 000 (€618,000). 

The jury’s finding has been the long-awaited 

result of a 6-year long legal battle which first 

began in 2011 when Canon sued General 

Plastic and Color Imaging for infringing its 

patent. At the time, Canon had stated that the 

“defendants market their toner bottle products 

as purported alternatives to genuine toner 

bottle products manufactured by Canon and 

sold under the Canon brand name... 

Defendants’ acts complained of herein are 

damaging and will continue to cause 

irreparable injury and damage to Canon for 

which there is no adequate remedy at law.” 

The legal dispute dragged on for four years 

until, as The Recycler reported in 2015, Canon 

requested that the US International Trade 

Commission (USITC) issue “a permanent 

limited exclusion order and cease and desist 

orders.” These orders would result in both 

General Plastic and Color Imaging being unable 

to import and sell the toner bottles that 

infringed Canon’s patent. 

In response, the USITC released a ‘Notice of 

Institution of Investigation” in which the 

Commission declared that, having received 

Canon’s complaint, it was ordering “an 

investigation to be instituted to determine 

whether there is a violation”. 

The two defendants remained defiant 

however, with a representative from Color 

Imaging telling The Recycler in June 2015 that 

“GPI and Color Imaging respect the intellectual 

property of others, including Canon’s. 

“They firmly believe that their innovative 

aftermarket products offer a viable alternative 

that is beneficial to the consumers, and should 

not be squeezed out of the market by means 

other than fair competition in the market.” 

Months of further litigation and legal dispute 

continued, with no sign of a forthcoming 

resolution, so much so that in June 2016, 

Actionable Intelligence reported that ‘Those 

holding out hope for a settlement... will either 

have to look to the future fulfilment of such 

hopes or extinguish them altogether.” 

Finally, in June 2017 the case came to trial in 

the Atlanta Court with the judge instructing the 

jury that it was “the responsibility of the 

Plaintiff Canon to prove every essential part of 

its claims by a “preponderance of the 

evidence”...an amount of evidence that is 

enough to persuade you that Canon’s claim is 

more likely true than not true.” 

He continued, “In this case, Defendants have 

asserted affirmative defences. Even if Plaintiff 

proves its claims by a preponderance of the 

evidence, Defendants can prevail in this case if 

they prove any of their affirmative defences by 

a preponderance of the evidence.” 

Canon accused both General Plastic and 

Color Imaging of infringing claims 24, 25 and 30 

of the ‘012 patent, with two different types of 

toner bottle being found to be in infringement; 

these were known during the legal 

proceedings as “Type A” Accused Toner Bottles 

and “Type B” Accused Toner Bottles. 

The claims 24, 25 and 30 of Canon’s ‘012 

patent “require the combined use of a toner 

bottle with a hollow cylindrical driving member 

and a hollow cylinder”. It was agreed that “each 

of the defendants’ Accused Toner Bottles has 

been used in a Canon copier, and have also 

agreed that each of those Canon copiers has a 

hollow cylindrical driving member and a 

hollow cylinder as described”. 

It was alleged by Canon that both General 

Plastic and Color Imaging directly and actively 

infringed Canon’s toner bottle patent. General 

Plastic and Color Imaging denied the 

allegations, contending that Canon had 

implicitly granted both them and their 

customers permission to sell and use the toner 

bottles, and also contending that using their 

own toner bottles with Canon copiers was 

“permissible repair”. 

Both companies stated that because Canon 

advices purchasers of its copiers to replace the 

toner with “acceptable and compatible” toner 

bottles in their machines, they could not be 

prevented from selling their accused bottles. 

When it comes to the thorny world of 

patent-related law, it has been determined that 

there are three different ways to infringe a 

patent, and in this case Canon contended that 

General Plastic and Color Imaging had 

infringed their ‘012 patent in all three ways: 

directly; by inducing others to infringe; and by 

contributing to the infringement of others. 

After two weeks of trial, the jury found 

unanimously in favour of Canon, deciding that 

General Plastic and Color Imaging had wilfully 

infringed Canon’s patent. 

Once the trial had concluded, General 

Plastic released the following statement: “The 

Company has made a new revision design for 

the products in this area to meet the market 

demand.” The company went on to add, “The 

company and the US lawyers believe that the 

decision has a major flaw, will proceed to move 

Appeal.” 

As The Recycler has previously reported, 

Canon is no stranger to this kind of legal 

dispute. The company was involved in previous 

toner bottle IP cases against PPC Solutions Ltd, 

AllCopy and Parsia International. PPC Solutions 

Ltd settled with the OEM in April 2014, AllCopy 

in September 2013, and Parsia International in 

October 2013. 

In the wake of the Georgia’s court’s findings 

on 19 June 2017, Canon’s lead trial counsel, 

Michael Sandonato of Fitzpatrick Cella Harper 

& Scinto revealed to Law360 that the company 

was “very pleased with the verdict” and added 

that “the awarded damages were the full 

amount the company sought.” 

He said, “We hope that this verdict will serve 

as a reminder to the aftermarket industry that 

Canon’s patents must be respected by those 

selling toner bottles and cartridges for Canon 

copiers and printers.” 


Trade magazine for the toner and inkjet remanufacturing industry ~ making waste work 

years 



• 

300 TH edition – October 2017 

SPECIAL EDITION 

Send us a picture of you with your colleagues or 

workplace and tell us a bit about your experience 

in the remanufacturing industry. 

• When did you join it? • 

• Why did you join it? • 

• What has been the greatest achievement so far? • 

• What hurdles did you have to overcome? • 

Send us your story or contact us for an interview at 

Phone: +44 (0)1993 899800 Fax: +44 (0) 1993 226899 

Email: news@therecycler.com 

www.therecycler.com

CITY NEWS 

OEM share prices 

August 2017 

Prices correct as of 1st August 2017 

COMPANY JUNE JULY 

Brother Industries (Yen) ¥ 2569 2617 

Canon (Yen) ¥ 3092 3858 

Dainippon Ink & (Yen) ¥ 3811 3995 

Chemicals 

Sun Chemicals parent company 

HP Inc. (US$) $ 17.59 18.90 

Hubei Dinglong (RMB) ¥ 10.12 10.37 

Jadi (MYR) M 0.06 0.06 

LG Chem (S Korean Won) W 291k 339k 

Matsushita Electric (Yen) ¥ 1514 1457 

Industrial Co. 

Panasonic parent company 

Mitsubishi Chemicals (Yen) ¥ 958 932 

Ninestar Corporation (RMB) ¥ 26.75 21.79 

Formerly Apex Microelectronics 

Oki (Yen) ¥ 1604 1504 

Samsung (S Korean Won) W2379k 2231k 

Seiko Epson (Yen) ¥ 2522 2750 

Turbon AG (Euro) € 14.98 13.40 

Xerox (US$) $ 28.77 31.66 

UK Waste Prices 

price per tonne 

Aluminium €11.39 11.00 

Plastic €56.69 69.92 

Paper € 1.08 1.04 

Currency 

€/US$ 1.13 1.18 

€/£ 0.88 0.91 

£/US$ 1.29 1.29 

Oil Price 

Crude oil - (US$) 46.14 52.1 

‘Brent Crude futures, 

1-Pos IPE close’ per barrel 

Shipping Prices 

Europe (Hamburg/Antwerp/ 1015 935 

Felixstowe/Le Havre) 

Mediterranean (Barcelona/ 951 859 

Valencia/Genoa/Naples 

USWC (Los Angeles/ 1378 1661 

Long Beach/Oakland) 

USEC (New York/Savannah 2356 2661 

Norfolk/Charleston) 

Sources: HMRC, FT.com, krx.co.kr, tse.or.jp, 

Environment Exchange, packagingnews.co.uk 

*Brent Crude price is for August 2017 

Find out more about our Weekly Newsletter at www.therecycler.com/newsletters 

ASIA Jadi Imaging, Business, Malaysia 

Jadi Imaging sells land 

The company is selling land and a factory building for RM23million ($5.3/€4.7 million) 

KLSE Screener reported that Jadi Imaging 

Holdings Bhd is selling the property after 

entering into a sale and purchase agreement 

with Tropical Fairyland and Sdn Bhd which 

was filed with Bursa Malaysia 28 June. 

A spokesperson at Jadi Imaging said: “The 

proposed sale and leaseback entails the 

disposal of the said property for the sale 

consideration to be satisfied entirely in cash.” 

The proceeds from the sale will be used for 

the repayment of bank loans, working capital, 

Silicon Republic reported that the 

closure of the site cost 500 workers 

their jobs at the Liffey Park 

Technology Campus in Ireland. The 

site is over 195 acres and will be one 

of the biggest estate sales in the 

country according to the Irish Times. 

On site there are nine buildings, 

manufacturing facilities and a warehouse, in 

total 1.46 million square feet as well as 70 

acres of “undeveloped land”, although the 

article stated that “new owners should be 

aware that the sites zoning permissions” will 

remain in place until 2023. 

Willie Norse, Executive Director, CBRE 

Estate Agents, commented: “It will represent 

and costs of the sale and the company 

commented: “The proposed disposal will 

enable Jadi Group to generate immediate 

cash flow and repay part of the group’s bank 

borrowings, which will reduce the gearing 

level of the group. 

“This will also result in interest savings and 

provide financial flexibility to the group to 

secure additional borrowings should new 

investment opportunities arise.” The sale is 

expected to be completed by Q4 2017. 

EUROPE HP Inc, Business, Ireland 

HP Inc selling Lexlip site 

Having closed the site the OEM is now selling the land and is expecting the sale to 

exceed €50 million ($56.9 million). 

EUROPE Brother, MPS, UK 

Computer Weekly reported 

that the MPS was designed 

specifically with the public 

sector and channel in mind 

making it achievable for 

resellers to “offer contracts” 

online or by phone. 

Brothers MPS and Omnijoin web 

conferencing system was accredited through 

G-Cloud which is a framework that “provides 

smaller suppliers with a chance to pitch for 

public sector business”. This has worked well 

so far as £1.6 billion ($2/(€1.8 billion) has 

been laid out on the governments digital 

one of the largest industrial and indeed 

overall property disposals in Ireland 

in recent years. This high-tech 

manufacturing complex represents 

an economic opportunity for largescale 

end users to secure a 

commercial industrial/manufacturing 

facility at a fraction of reinstatement value, or 

alternatively for investors who would seek to 

lease out the entire campus, thereby 

generating a significant rent roll.” 

The HP inkjet cartridge manufacturing 

facility was said to be too costly to run last 

year and HP was under “financial pressure” 

to make cuts and reconstruct its business 

drive globally. 

Brother partners to channel 

managed print 

The OEM recently gained the right to offer managed print on G-Cloud 9 and now needs 

its channel partners to take the product to the public sector. 

marketplace with 56 percent of total 

sales and 64 percent of volume 

being awarded to SMEs. 

Phil White, Managed Print Sales 

Manager, Brother UK, said: “A huge 

breadth of organisations in the 

public sector want to get access to 

the efficiencies and peace of mind that 

managed print services bring. We’ve seen 

some larger public sector organisations save 

six-figures off their printing bill through MPS 

and so we’re hoping our new cloud-based 

MPS will open up similar opportunities for 

smaller organisations.” 



EUROPE Messe Frankfurt, Paperworld, Germany 

Messe Frankfurt 2016 

highest results 

Trade fairs are going from strength to strength in Frankfurt 777 years on from first event. 

This year could see sales of over €650 million 

($725 million) announced the organisation in 

a press release. Mayor Peter Feldmann, 

Chairman, Messe Frankfurt Supervisory 

Board said the work of the President and 

CEO Wolfgang Marzin and his board was 

“sterling”, adding: “Messe Frankfurt is 

building on its growth consistently in the 

2017 financial year. If things continue in this 

positive vein, the company may well see sales 

pass the €650 million mark.” 

Marzin commented: “In 2016, we 

generated sales of approximately €647 

million, which reached the same heights 

attained in 2015, our most successful year to 

date. A new record level of EBITDA was 

reached with around €124 million. New 

records were also set for pre-tax earnings 

(approx. €74 million) and annual net income 

(approx. €50 million). 2016 saw a total of 417 

events take place under the Messe Frankfurt 

umbrella, attracting some 4.2 million visitors, 

over 3.5 million of which to its trade fairs 

and exhibitions.” 

He also said that the organisation would 

continue to invest and grow and that it 

intends to expand on the Safety, Security & 

Fire industry segment and that Messe 

Frankfurt is the “world’s leading organiser of 

trade fairs and congresses in the international 

growth segment of civil security”. 

Executive board member, Detlef Braun, 

commented: “Once again, we are happy to 

report that the event business has been very 

dynamic with a high level of growth. Our 


excellent positioning and networking in 

every single country around the globe 

helps to increase the international 

component at our Frankfurt base, which was 

already very high.” 

The event organisation said that they are 

working on brand developments and new 

event formats and Braun added: “At present, 

this is occurring above all in the consumer 

goods and musical instrument sectors and in 

the areas of mobility and logistics. I am 

confident that these wide-ranging 

developments will have a greater effect on 

our trade fair sector in the next three years 

than any that we have experienced in the past 

three decades. The number of exhibitors has 

increased by around 20 percent to 1,125 

companies and gross exhibition space now 

totals 92,000 square metres – around 12 

percent more than the previous event.” 

There is also investment in interactive 

formats at forthcoming shows where there is 

already much successful foreign trade and 

business. Messe Frankfurt have also invested 

€1 billion ($1.12 billion) in modernisation of 

its event sites and hall 12 is underway and on 

time and within budget. 

Marzin finished by saying: “Messe 

Frankfurt is reliably increasing its earnings 

power while sustainably reinforcing its 

leading position in the global market. From 

this strong position, we can continue to 

invest in developing our Group in the long 

term and in those precise areas where the 

needs of our customers exist.” 

NORTH AMERICA 

Toshiba, Chips, Business 

Toshiba chips 

business sale 

on hold 

CITY NEWS 

Toshiba Corporation has filed an update 

on the court hearing on 14 July at the 

Superior Court of California. 

Toshiba Corporation has filed an update to 

the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock 

Exchange on the court hearing on 14 July at 

the Superior Court of California for the 

County of San Francisco, on the motion for 

preliminary injunctive relief made by 

SanDisk LLC a subsidiary of Western Digital 

Corporation. 

At the 14 July hearing, the Judge 

proposed a solution and did not order a 

preliminary injunctive. Instead, the Judge 

proposed Toshiba give two weeks’ notice to 

SanDisk before Toshiba closes the sale of its 

memory business for the period until the 

arbitration panel can be formed. Arbitration 

was initiated by SanDisk in May 2017. 

Pursuant to the ICC (International 

Chamber of Commerce) Rules that 

govern the arbitration, the tribunal should 

be formed within the next few months. 

As both sides agreed to the approach if 

it can be properly worded, the Judge 

requested the parties to negotiate language 

that would implement the Judge’s proposal 

and present that to the Court by 28 July. 

Toshiba agreed not to close the Deal before 

the 28 July hearing. Given that regulatory 

approval for the deal will likely take several 

months after signing, Toshiba’s current target 

is to close the deal by the end of March 2018. 

As a result, there is no chance of closing the 

deal within the next two weeks. 

In the meantime, Toshiba can and will 

continue to negotiate and sign an agreement 

with bidders for the deal. 

The next hearing is currently scheduled 

for 28 July. 

21

ETIRA: WORKING FOR ALL REMANUFACTURERS AND PARTNERS 

ETIRA membership 

benefits include: 

European Toner & Inkjet 

Remanufacturers Association a.i.s.b.l. 

ABOUT ETIRA 

ETIRA is the European trade association 

for the inkjet and toner cartridge 

remanufacturing industry, and represents 

the interests of remanufacturers and 

suppliers, as well as compatibles 

manufacturers and more. 

Created in 2003, it is the recognised 

industry body for all topics affecting this 

industry. By joining ETIRA, you will be part 

of an association working on important 

topics like quality, standardisation, legal 

and regulatory issues, public relations, 

and member contact platforms. 

Membership fees are 

very reasonable 

and reflect your 

annual turnover, 

act today. 

Meeting new clients and partners at 

our network meetings! 

A strong fight against clever chips, 

unfair patents,waste transport rules etc.! 

PR-work to tell the world about 

remanufactured cartridges and why 

they are good for both consumers and 

the environment! 

Promotion of top-quality 

remanufacturing (standardisation)! 

Join our business Code of Conduct, 

and sell more cartridges thanks to our 

logo! 

Meeting 60 top remanufacturers 

already member of ETIRA........... 

ETIRA brings the remanufacturing 

Industry together. Be part of the family! 

Grieglaan 7 • 4837 CB Breda • The Netherlands 

Tel: + 31 6 414 614 63 • Fax: + 31 76 564 04 51 • info@etira.org 

www.etira.org

EDITORIAL 

Editorial 

This is a unique issue of The Recycler 

because this month the entire issue has 

been produced using mobile technology 

only, as we travelled around Europe. A 

mobile phone, a laptop, mobile printer 

and an internet connection to our 

servers were our only tools. Why this 

madness you ask? Well in the next issue 

we are writing about mobile printing and 

technology, and I wanted to “test the 

theory”. So we packed up our 

motorhome and set off on a three 

thousand kilometre trip around northern 

Europe to write, proof and produce issue 

298 of The Recycler. In fact, I am writing 

this editorial sat in a car park in 

Normandy avoiding the rain before going 

for lunch in the nearby restaurant. See 

the full story in issue 299. 

Busses and lawyers 

It was only a few months ago I observed 

that fewer legal cases were doing the 

rounds. Well, it seems that like buses, 

there are none at all and then several 

come along at the same time. What is 

interesting is the detail of all the legal 

actions. 

The Aster and Static legal proceedings 

are interesting in that it is a dispute 

between two aftermarket players. 

Normally it is an OEM taking action 

against an aftermarket player for some IP 

infringement. But IP is a complex subject. 

How many times have we seen OEM’s 

register patents for remanufacturing that, 

on the surface, have no innovative merit 

because the average remanufacturer 

would know how to do that? The reason 

the patent then gets granted is that 

most remanufacturers don’t invest in 

patenting their processes or keeping 

well-documented procedures that could 

be used to challenge an OEM patent. 

Not so in this case, these two 

aftermarket companies have both built 

substantial portfolios of patents covering 

the products they have developed and 

manufacture and are asking a judge to 

decide whose IP prevails. A bit like Apple 

and Samsung arguing about whose 

smartphone IP is valid. Yes, they are in 

court slugging it out, but still doing 

business with each other. 

The Canon versus GPI and Color 

Imaging is on the surface the standard 

OEM action of alleging a breach of their 

IP. But this case isn’t that straight 

forward, and I expect a few twists and 

turns as this case continues. If I were a 

betting person, I would bet on both to 

win, or possibly settle out of court? 

HP Inc is in the courts seeking to have 

a legal action dismissed. The action 

stems from the “great firmware update” 

where many customers who were 

legitimately using aftermarket products 

found that their printers suddenly 

stopped working. The press backlash 

made HP relent and roll back the change, 

but several customers who were affected 

decided to sue HP. Does the case have 

merit? I think that when a global OEM 

Stefanie Unland Managing Editor 

does something that adversely impacts 

on consumers, especially if they are out 

of pocket as a result of those actions it is 

right and proper that their actions are 

challenged in court and a judge decides. 

Anything less starts to feel like an abuse 

of a dominant position. 

Epson is in court challenging a couple 

of online resellers, and it doesn’t matter 

how small you are, you won’t escape 

their legal machinations if they think you 

are infringing in some way. 

What you may not know is that in 

Australia Epson is taking legal action 

against a company for something a little 

bit different. There are endless cases now 

where OEM’s have taken measures 

against the aftermarket for leaving logos 

on used cartridges because the 

consumer might think your refilled 

cartridge might be passed off as an OEM. 

Well in Australia the Epson case revolves 

around Epson acting to keep the logo’s 

on. We will keep you posted on that one! 

A group or possible groups now of 

former Lexmark shareholders are taking 

action alleging they were misled and as a 

result lost money. These actions relate to 

the period before Lexmark was acquired 

last year. While there is a certain amount 

of irony in that Lexmark is being sued for 

a change. It is not the sort of PR the new 

owners want as they move Lexmark 

forward and develop new markets and 

opportunities. 

R 


23

AROUND THE INDUSTRY 


EUROPE EcoLabel, Imaging Euqipment, EU 

EU Ecolabel for IE is being discontinued 

The Commission has agreed on a report presenting the conclusions of the extensive evaluation of the EU Ecolabel Scheme and the Eco- 

Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) concluding that groups with limited uptake, like imaging equipment (IE) will be discontinued. 

The EU Ecolabel is a voluntary label 

promoting environmental excellence by 

serving as a credible and trustworthy 

reference for consumers. It is aiming to 

recognise the top 10-20 percent best 

performing products. EMAS is a voluntary 

management scheme for companies and 

other organisations to improve environmental 

performance. 

The Recycler reported in March this year 

that the EU Commission was reviewing the EU 

Ecolabel. As a result of this review, the 

Commission highlighted “The Fitness Check 

of the functioning and performance of these 

two voluntary schemes found that 

implementation must improve to reach full 

potential as circular economy tools.” 

Environment Commissioner Karmenu 

Vella said: “The EU Ecolabel is a green brand 

you can trust. The scheme has just 

been rechecked and is fit for purpose. 

Environmentally minded consumers can 

look forward to another 25 years of quality 

green choices.” 

To make the EU Ecolabel scheme more 

effective and boost uptake, the Commission 

will make it more focused. This comprises a 

new strategic approach by bundling closely 

related product groups when they come up 

for renewal, to reinforce communication, to 

reduce administrative costs, and to improve 

consistency between the EU Ecolabel and 

national/regional labels. 

A number of product groups with limited 

uptake will be discontinued including imaging 

equipment (IE). This will happen when the 

current EU IE Ecolabel criteria will expire (in 

December 2017). 

For EMAS, the Commission wants to 

increase the added value of the scheme and 

the benefits delivered to registered 

organisations and authorities. This includes 

additional opportunities for EMAS registered 

organisations to cut administrative burden by 

providing greater regulatory relief, replicating 

measures used by the Member States with a 

significant number of EMAS registrations, and 

a better integration of EMAS into the Green 

Action Plan for SMEs. 

EUROPE Brother, Patents, Legal 

Brother settles patent dispute 

The OEM announced that the patent dispute with a German toner and drum distributor has been settled. 

The news was announced in a company 

press release and said that Brother 

Industries Ltd had received “substantial 

damage compensation” after it took out a 

successful infringement action on the toner 

and drum distributor in 2016. 

Once the infringement action was filed 

the distributor acknowledged that it had 

used patented technology from Brother 

before the case came to court. Due to this 

acknowledgement in 2016 the court’s 

decision deemed “not only prohibit the 

distributor to offer, put on the market or use 

the toner and drum cartridges in dispute in 

Germany, or to import them into Germany 

or possess them in Germany for said 

purposes”. 

The distributor was ordered to pay 

damages and was ordered to “disclose 

information on the origin and chain of 

distribution as well as on the scope of the 

infringement, and to recall from commercial 

customers and destroy the toner and drum 

cartridges in dispute being in its possession. 

Last but not least, the judgment imposed 

the statutory costs of a previous warning 

letter and of the infringement action itself 

on the distributor”. 

The distributor complied with all of the 

court’s orders and Tadashi Ishiguro, 

Representative Director and Senior 

Managing Executive Officer, Brother, 

commented: “Brother is very pleased with 

this outcome. Once again, it shows that we 

have strong IP rights, the infringement of 

which does not pay. We will continue to take 

appropriate action against any such 

infringement whenever necessary.” 







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ASIA Jadi, E-commerce, Business 

Jadi Imaging announces 

B2B platform 

The Board of Directors at Jadi Imaging Holdings Berhad announced the B2B e- 

commerce platform. 

This is the first B2B business 

platform for Jadi and the company 

hopes to reach the smaller 

customer groups and end users as 

well as promoting brand awareness. 

The new platform will see Jadi 

offering its existing products using 

the brand name Jaditoner and the 

goal is to develop relationships in 

the “value chain” in Malaysia, UK 

and China while other countries will still 

have access to jaditoner.com. 

The Jadi Board said that the launch 

of Jaditoner.com “compliments its 

acquisitions of Jadi Imaging Solutions UK 

Ltd and [the] new warehouse in Zhuhai 

China” and will be in the best interests of 

Jadi which will be able to complete orders 

faster “through better control of its 

supply chain worldwide”. 

You can find the new e-commerce site 

at www.jaditoner.eu. 


EUROPE wta, Recruitment, Empties 

wta Carsten Weser 

appoints new 

collection manager 

EUROPE Color Imaging, Business 

Personnel changes at Color 

Imaging 

Color Imaging announces the retirement of Kathy Tripp and the new appointment of 

JR Consulting (Mr Reinhardt Jippa). 

Mr Sueling Wang, President of Color 

Imaging made the personal announcement 

this month that Kathy Tripp who was 

responsible for international sales has 

retired after her many years with the 

company. 

He wrote: “With gratitude for her many 

years of devotion to Color Imaging we send 

only the best wishes to Kathy Tripp for a fun 

filled and rewarding retirement. It has fallen 

upon me to announce that it’s Kathy’s turn 

to spend more time skiing instead of 

working! Kathy is retiring after 21 years of 

service and friendship with the Color 

Imaging family.” 

At the same time Mr Wang announced 

that Color Imaging has contracted JR 

Consulting to maintain the European, 



Eastern European, African and the UK 

market. Mr Reinhardt Jippa will be 

responsible for those markets under the 

new arrangement. 

His contact details are: 

JR Consulting (Mr. Reinhardt Jippa) 

Consultant to Color Imaging, Inc. 

Email: jr@jrco.eu 

Phone: +49-6105-22855 or 703878 

Fax: +49 -6105-279085 

Dimitry van Raamsdonk joined wta 

Carsten Weser as the Collection Program 

Manager on 1 July and will be 

responsible within wta for the buying 

and selling of empties. 

Dimitry brings with him a wealth of experience 

having started his brokering career over 

sixteen years ago when he joined Belgiumbased 

Cartrec. In 2006 he joined Belgiumbased 

Recyca BVBA, a leading collector in the 

French and Benelux region, as sales manager. 

Thomas Lentes, Marketing Manager, at wta, 

said: “Because of his wealth of experience 

within the market, we are happy to have won 

such a competent and market insider for us.” 

If you are looking to contact Dimitry van 

Raamsdonk, his new contact details are: 

Dimitry van Raamsdonk 

Collection Program Manager 

Tel: +32 14 91 99 60 

Mobil: +32 4 73 22 60 63 

Email: dimitry.vanraamsdonk@wta-suhl.de 

Skype: D van Raamsdonk 

Remanexpo: Business Lounge 

Meet and network at the event 

The lounge offers smart accommodation for discussions 

at the heart of the show 

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25


GLOBAL MFPs, Market, OEMs 

MFP market 

growth 

The MFP market is set to grow at a 

CAGR of 3.3 percent globally during 

2017 to 2021. 

Research shows that the Global 

MFP market growth is being dominated 

by key OEMs Canon, HP Inc, Konica 

Minolta, Kyocera Document Solution, 

Ricoh and Xerox. 

According to industry experts who have 

“prepared an in depth market analysis who 

calculated the “market size” by considering 

the MFPs “used by the individual 

consumer, commercial and enterprise 

segment” there will be an annual growth of 

3.35 percent. 

Also noted was that one “driver in the 

market” had decreased the cost of MFPs 

and that sellers have a plan to reduce initial 

purchase costs in favour of “consumer and 

end user segments” making them more 

affordable to everyone. 

New technologies in the market such as 

LED have been adopted by MFPs from as 

early as 2012 and has been further 

developed for better resolution of images, 

text and content as compared to laser 

printers as the LED MFPs use “the light 

beamed from light emitting diode instead 

of the laser beam to create the impression 

of the content on the OPC drum” and this 

technology is more precise resulting in 

clearer content. 

The report also noted that high 

resolution printing that used to depend on 

inkjet printers will “shift to LED MFPs” as 

the technology allows for faster printing 

speeds and better use of ink and toner 

with a higher print quality but lower total 

cost of ownership. 

IMEA GIT, Dubai, Business 

GIT wins another business 

award and achieves ‘A’- rating 

This month GIT received another business award from the FinanceME Business Vision 

Awards and also achieved ‘A’-rating from the Dubai government Economic Department. 

Robin Amlot from CPI Financial handed over 

the Award to GIT for “Best Business – 

Technology” by FinanceME Business Vision 

Awards 2017. 

On the win Dr Sassan Dieter Khatib- 

Shahidi, CEO of GIT commented: “We thank 

FinanceME and its readers for this recognition 

which underlines our commitment and 

presence as industry leading technology 

company in the document printing space.” 

The Business Vision Awards cover a variety 

of categories, from rewarding businesses that 

provide services to SMEs, using SMEs in their 

supply chain, to rewarding start-ups and the 

SMEs themselves. 

Also this month the Dubai government, 

Economic Department, has awarded GIT an ‘A’ 

- rating. Dubai SME Rating Framework is for 

small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in 

the region and is the first rating system for this 

sector. The new system rates the business 

based on criteria of financial and non-financial 

performance. 

The UAE has a goal of “building a 

sustainable and diversified economy” and the 

Framework contributes to this as well as 

playing a key role in achieving the goals of 

Subscribe to The Recycler at www.therecycler.com/subscribe 

Dubai Plan 2021 as the SMBs contribute to the 

GDP and are important to the economy. The 

Dubai Plan focuses on encouraging innovative 

ideas and boosting productivity of SMBs 

which in turn give people career 

opportunities. 

The Framework enables governmental 

support to the rated SMBs “through 

developing a unique strategic partnership 

between the private and private sector” 

resulting in benefits to SMBs that will aid 

efficiency, accelerate growth and help them to 

thrive globally. 

EUROPE Lyreco, MPS, Business 

A new self-service MPS offer? 

Lyreco in the UK and Ireland entered the MPS market with a new service called 

“Simple Print”. 

“Simply Print” is a managed print solution 

from Lyreco Print Services. Businesses only 

need to fill in an online form and the contract 

will be emailed. The service includes the 

supplies management software, automated 

ordering of supplies, fixing pricing on supplies 

for three years, three years on site repairs and 

next day service and the printers free on loan. 

When choosing the service, the customer 

can choose the device themselves that they 

believe is the right one for their need. Lyreco 

will deliver those devices to the customer, 

along with the starter pack which includes 

their enhanced warranty, helpline numbers, 

software install and print drivers. 

The pricing is based on the customer 

paying for the starter pack which includes all 

the software needed and then for each 

cartridge that is ordered as and when it is 

ordered. When supplies are automatically 

ordered when the device is showing low ink 

or toner, they simply get added to the invoice 

so there is no extra billing involved for the 

customer. 

Currently, the offered devices only include 

Lexmark, HP and Brother devices. 



NORTH AMERICA HP Inc, Legal, Firmware Update 

HP Inc is looking to get 

complaints case dismissed 

During a hearing on 6 July, the OEM has asked the United States District 

Court, Northern District of California, for the whole complaints case for the 

HP Inc firmware update litigation to be dismissed and also included a 

proposed order for the full dismissal of the case. 

On Thursday 6 July, HP Inc’s case 

was heard by the Honorable 

Edward J. Davila whereby 

HP Inc. moved the court 

to dismiss plaintiffs’ 

Consolidated Complaint (ECF 

No. 60). The case was filed in 

September 2016 by US law firm 

Girard Gibbs. 

The motion to dismiss, which was 

filed prior to the hearing, stated: 

“Plaintiffs incurably fail to state a claim 

for relief for any of their claims for 

unlawful computer intrusions—the 

federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act 

(18 U.S.C. § 1030), California’s antihacking 

statute (Cal. Penal Code § 502), 

and common law trespass to 

chattels—because, among 

other things, HP had 

authority to access the 

printers.” 

It continued that the 

plaintiff ’s had no actual 

“plausible claim for relief against 

HP”, concluding that there is insufficient 

evidence against HP Inc’s conduct in any 

of the cases stated under the Consumer 

Protection Act. 

After fully considering the briefs and 

papers regarding the case, and hearing 

oral argument, the Honorable Edward J. 

Davila is now considering HP Inc.’s 

motion to dismiss. 

EUROPE KMP, Business, Germany 


KMP Apprentice 

receives award 

Kathrin Bauer was awarded the Lower Bavarian 

State Prize for outstanding achievements. 

The KMP apprentice, Kathrin Bauer, was awarded the 

Lower Bavarian State Prize at a ceremony. Ms Bauer who 

finished her training as an industrial clerk at KMP, 

received this prize for the top grades on her college’s 

leaving certificate. 

This state prize is given by the schools sector of the 

Government of Lower Bavaria for excellent results of 

apprentices and is awarded by the local college. The 

awarded young people are honoured with a certificate, 

and in the local district of Rottal-Inn, Bavaria, the district 

adds a book as a special attention. KMP commented: 

“We are proud of our trainee and congratulate Kathrin 

Bauer on her outstanding achievements.” 


27


EUROPE UKCRA, Remanufacturers, 

Cartridges 

Next UKCRA 

meeting 

announced 

The meeting of the United Kingdom 

Cartridge Remanufacturers Association 

will take place in Coventry 14 

September and all are welcome. 

The United Kingdom Cartridge Remanufacturers’ 

Association (UKCRA) will host its 

next meeting of members at the Novotel in 

Coventry, England on Thursday 14 

September, and members and nonmembers 

can register to attend. For the 

first time, the meeting is open to all 

remanufacturers whether they are 

members or not. Speakers will be 

confirmed nearer the time. 

Last year saw talks on strategic 

implications for the remanufacturing 

industry as well as the industry’s 

opportunity to develop new capabilities 

and a talk covering a range of advanced 

techniques that can provide the industry 

with the capability to gain powerful 

new insights into the new challenges that 

are emerging, and in turn design value 

chains with improved business and 

environmental performance. 

The association has been prominent in 

making changes in the industry and has 

been at the vanguard of remanufacturing 

and sustainability for over 25 years. 

UKCRA was at the forefront at 

addressing the impact of the new WEEE 

regulations, launching an impact 

assessment, hosting a meeting to launch 

the report at which UK government 

agencies were present to help members 

understand the issues arising and then 

met to discuss compliance regulations. 

In October 2015 UKCRA launched its 

WEEE2 guide for UK 

remanufacturers, 

which it said was 

a useful tool for 

understanding 

the regulations 

that came into 

effect. 

Attendance 

to the UKCRA 

meeting is free 

and everyone 

is welcome. 

EUROPE Armor, MPS, Canada 

News from ARMOR 

This month ARMOR has been in the news introducing their new MPS offering and their 

expansion in Canada. 

OWA Print Services (OPS) is offering a new 

solution which does not require a change of 

printers and saves the customer money. The 

company said on its website that there would 

be an immediate saving of 30 percent on the 

MPS solution and that once the software is 

installed the OPS team becomes responsible 

for managing the customers equipment as 

well as “dispatching consumables” before 

they run out and maintaining all printers 

under contract. 

Customers will also benefit from OWA “high 

quality remanufactured products” and said 

that the OPS contract is flexible allowing 

equipment changes to be made and 

optimising the “useful life of the printers in 

line with OWA’s philosophy. 

The new MPS is designed for SMBs who have 

more than 10 printers and is available from the 

company’s network of partner resellers and 

will also see opportunities for new resellers to 

ARMOR who are “interested in offering the 

print solution” within their own range. 

ARMOR said that this was an attractive offer 

for resellers as the company is responsible for 

the entire service on behalf of the partner 

who only has to “re-invoice” the customer and 

develop a business relationship. 

Also in June, the company has opened a 

second subsidiary in Canada for its Thermal 

Transfer Ribbons. 

ARMOR said that its sole motivation was: 

“to support the dynamism of its partners 

NORTH AMERICA LD Products, Printers, Business 

LD Products website has new function 

LD Products said that they have listened to the 

customer and given them what they have 

been asking for. “My Printers” is a custom 

printer list, created by the customer so that 

they can add items to cart and there is no 

second guessing the printer or cartridge 

model which makes shopping easier for the 

customer. 

Once logged into personal customer 

account there are three areas on the website 

where “My Printers” can be accessed at the 

top of the website, on the customers account 

page or on any printer page by clicking on the 

“My Printers” button. 

Customers can add a new printer by 


The company has added “My Printers” as a new function. 

through ever greater efficiency and proximity” 

and since it established its subsidiary in 

Cincinnati USA in 1999 the company has made 

a place for itself in the US market by “offering 

its expertise developed in Europe since the 

early 1980’s”. 

The company said with its new Canadian 

subsidiary, ARMOR is the first manufacturer of 

Thermal Transfer film to invest locally in 

ribbon slitting and distribution activities, 

thereby becoming the largest producer of 

rolls on the Canadian market. 

Canada’s market was covered by ARMOR 

USA previously but recently Barry Bowsher 

was made the Regional Manager. ARMOR has 

installed local manufacturing facilities and is 

offering “significant support to its Canadian 

partners helping them to achieve their 

growth objectives”. 

selecting the brand, printer family and model 

number and the printer will be saved for 

future orders. The new button makes life 

simpler for busy offices and families with 

multiple printers. 




GLOBAL CIG, Software, Dealer 

CIG announces custom content 

marketing solutions 

Clover Imaging Group (CIG) announced the release of its latest solution for 

imaging dealers. 

The custom content marketing solutions is 

called ‘Amplify’ and gives dealers the 

opportunity to attract customers online and 

cut through the clutter of search engine 

information with expert, targeted content 

such as blogs, authority papers, case 

studies, social media, and more. 

“96% of B2B buyers want content with 

more input from industry thought leaders,” 

according to the Demand Gen Report 2016. 

According to CIG “Dealers need to provide 

expert and thought leader content to their 

customers during all phases of the buying 

process in order to attract and retain 

customers.” 

“Content marketing allows dealers to 

provide and distribute educational 

materials such as videos, case studies, and 

authority papers via their website to attract 

new customers online through inbound 

marketing,” said Aaron Dyck, Vice President 

of CIG Solutions. 

“Inbound marketing is the latest and 

greatest lead generation strategy of the 

moment. If you are not taking advantage of 

inbound and content marketing, then you 

are behind the competition and at risk of 

losing out on solid business opportunities.” 

“At Clover Imaging Group, we are 

passionate about providing our dealers the 

best solutions to grow their business and 

sustain that growth momentum,” said Matt 

McGuire, Director of CIG Solutions. 

“Amplify is just the ticket that our dealers 

need to diversify their lead generation 

strategies online and propel their 

dealerships into a profitable future.” 

Amplify is part of CIG’s Marketing 

Platform 2.0, a portfolio of marketing tools 

that CIG offers imaging dealers. 

IMEA Static Control, Business, South Africa 

Static Control Africa operation 

moves to larger space 

Static Control, the largest manufacturer of aftermarket imaging systems and 

components supporting cartridge remanufacturers within the global laser and 

inkjet industry, has announced the opening of its new Cape Town Office and 

Distribution Center. 

The new facilities are located at No. 27 

Creation Park, Computer Road, Montague 

Gardens, Cape Town “We are happy to 

relocate our Cape Town operations to this 

new facility, which is bigger than our 

previous location,” said Stuart Lacey, 

Managing Director for Static Control 

Africa. “This area is centrally located to 

provide better logistics. The larger facility 

will allow us to stock more items, 

including our finished cartridges. We aim 

to deliver the best customer service in the 

industry, and this facility will help us 

better achieve that goal.” 

The 450 square meter facility opened at 

the end of May 2017. The phone and fax 

numbers remain unchanged. 


29



GLOBAL Ninestar, Innovation, Business 

Ninestar – Innovation is the key 

The company released its latest white paper which contains a detailed overview of the growth of the company and its success. 

Ninestar emphasised that the mainstay 

of the company’s success as a 

manufacturer is due to using “noninfringing 

compatibles” which allowed 

them to “avoid the supply chain issues 

that plagued remanufacturers” and at 

the same time provided customers with 

opportunities to profit that “higher 

priced remanufactured cartridges could 

never support”. 

Jason Wang, Senior Vice President, 

Ninestar Corporation, said: “Since our 

company opened in 2000, we have focused 

intensely on our ability to innovate and 

quickly bring to market the highest quality 

products.” Wang explained that investment 

in innovation meant that the company could 

offer a wide range of ink, toner and ribbon 

cartridges under the G&G brand which is 

recognised around the world for “superior 

performance and reliability”. 

ASIA InfoTrends, Cartridges, OEMs 

According to the study purchasing supplies 

through e-commerce marketplaces is risky 

for both OEMs and end users. Preliminary 

results from InfoTrends’ Business Purchasing 

Survey show about 20 percent of businesses 

report they “shop the internet” among the 

top two ways in which they buy ink and 

toner cartridges. Among the 20 percent, 

almost half of those businesses reported 

issues with product purchases. 

John Shane, Director, InfoTrends, said: 

“We believe that e-commerce represents the 

largest threat of third-party toner and inkjet 

cartridges to the OEMs and domestic 

remanufacturers. This creates a serious 

marketing challenge as both the customer 

experience and brand integrity can be 

negatively impacted.” 

There are several risk factors that vendors 

face: E-Commerce marketplaces offer 

supplies buyers a bewildering assortment of 

ink and toner cartridges, Remanufacturers, 

new-build compatibles, unknown, many 

third-party inks and toners sold on the 

The white paper “Innovating Success” is a 

study of the company’s technical achievements 

and outlines its journey to become the “world’s 

largest third-party supplies vendor” used by 

over 200 million end users in more than 100 

countries. The report also covers Ninestar’s 

inventions and technologies which allowed the 

company to release “its most important 

products” and also discusses its recent 

internet appear to be patent or trademark 

infringing, third-party supplies on the 

internet are often 20 percent of the price of 

OEM supplies, users may or may not be 

receiving the products that they are 

expecting, competitive manufacturing 

sources are frequently unknown. 

The results of the study are expected to; 

qualify the impact of e-commerce 

marketplaces, size the annual units and 

revenues (at final sale) of inkjet and toner 

acquisitions of Static Control 

Components and Lexmark International. 

Wang commented: “With a deep pool 

of proprietary inventions and thousands 

of patents to draw from, Ninestar is 

better able to quickly provide its 

customers with non-infringing G&G 

products today than ever before. As 

competition in the market grows 

increasingly intense Ninestar’s customers 

can rely on us to continue to innovate 

and add even more value to our G&Gbranded 

products.” 

Wang also said: “We’re publishing Ninestar— 

Innovating Success because we want the 

industry to understand how Ninestar became 

the company that it is today and explain how 

we will continue to grow in the future. As we 

have done since Day One, rest assured that 

Ninestar will continue to lead the industry by 

innovating.” 

New study: Mapping the Impact of China and 

Third-party Supplies 

InfoTrends’ new study “Sizing Ink & Toner E-Commerce: Mapping the Impact of China and Third-party Supplies” will help ink and 

toner OEMs better understand the threats of the e-commerce marketplace. 

cartridges by internet-based retailers, 

identify key industry marketing challenges, 

profile the customer purchase process, 

product, and overall experience from a 

cross-section of internet-based retailers, 

profile the customers of inkjet and toner 

cartridges from internet-based retailers and 

understand their characteristics, behaviour, 

and experiences, distil multiple data sources 

to characterize the impact of third-party 

supplies on the internet. 




NORTH AMERICA Epson, Courts, Legal 

Epson in court to fight multiple 

patent infringements 

Two complaints were made by Epson in the United States District Court of 

California. 

Epson has taken two companies to court in 

a bid to clamp down on alleged violations 

of patents for its ink cartridges. Prinko 

Image Co. and Soldcrazy USA, both of 

California, were accused of importing and 

selling cartridges that infringe Epson’s 

patents. 

The two patents – US6,502,917 and 

US8,794,749 – were originally issued to 

Epson by the United States Patent and 

Trademark Office in 2003 and 2014 

respectively, with a re-examination 

certificate for the former being issued in 

2009. Tigran Guledjan and Richard H. 

Doss, of Quin, Emanuel, Urquhart & 

Sullivan LLP, Los Angeles, attorneys for 

Epson, argued that not only were both 

patents infringed, by both companies but 

were done so willfully and with full 

awareness of the patent. 

The matter first came to Epson’s 

attention when representatives of the 

company discovered cartridges for sale 

online advertised as being compatible with 

Epson printers. Soldcrazy, (operating 

online as Lovetoners) both through their 

own website and other online retailers 

such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com, 

offered ink cartridges listed as compatible 

with at least ten models of Epson printer, 

including the Stylus range and many of the 

WorkForce models. Likewise, Prinko, using 

many of the same retail websites but 

operating online as O’Image, sold Prinkobranded 

cartridges specifically advertised 

as being compatible with various Epson 

Stylus printers, including the Photo 1400 

and the Artisan 1430. 

Both Soldcrazy and Prinko had been 

subject to Seizure and Forfeiture Orders 

from the United States International Trade 

Commission in the past. The ITC had 

ordered, in June 2015 (in the case of 

Soldcrazy) and in June 2016 (in the case 

of Prinko), that “ink cartridges and 

components thereof that are imported in 

violation of the general exclusion order [… 

] are to be seized and forfeited to the 

United States.” These were imposed 

following the US Bureau of Customs and 

Border Protection previously issuing 

General Exclusion Orders to both 

companies, even going so far as to deny 

ink cartridges that contravened these 

orders entry into the country. Despite 

these Orders being imposed, Soldcrazy 

and Prinko continued to supply the 

offending cartridges online. 

As part of the case built against the two 

companies, Epson’s attorneys tested 

cartridges representative of all those sold 

by Soldcrazy and Prinko, in order to 

illuminate the exact similarities and 

therefore the likely patent infringement. 

Such claims, originally patented by Epson, 

include the design of the ink supply port, 

the semiconductor storage device, and 

the plurality of contacts for connecting 

the semiconductor with the printing 

apparatus. These comparisons proved to 

Epson’s attorneys that the infringement of 

the patents was both literal and willful. 

It is not the first time in recent months 

that Epson has been forced to file actions 

against infringements of its patents. 

Between November 2016 and March 2017, 

eight separate actions were filed in the 

Central District of California, whilst 

another five were filed in the District Court 

of Oregon between February and June 

2012. Of these earlier actions, all five also 

concerned the patent US6,502,917. 

In both cases heard by the District 

Court, Epson’s attorneys have requested a 

trial by jury of all issues so triable, and 

demand that both defendants (Soldcrazy 

and Prinko) be permanently enjoined from 

continued infringement. They also seek 

damages from both Soldcrazy and Prinko, 

adding that the damages be trebled and 

paid together with any interest accrued on 

them, as well as asking that Epson be 

awarded its costs, attorney fees and 

litigation expenses. 


31


View The Recycler’s Directory online at www.therecycler.com/directory 

NORTH AMERICA Staples, Business, USA 

Saga settled as Staples prepares to sell 

up to Sycamore 

The office supply titan has accepted a multi-billion dollar offer from the private equity firm. 

After long-running discussions, it has finally 

been announced that Staples, for years a 

mainstay of office supplies, is to sell itself to 

private equity firm Sycamore Partners. 

According to the New York Times, the 

Massachusetts company, first established in 

1986, has accepted an offer worth $6.9 billion 

(€6 billion) from New York City-based 

Sycamore, whose previous investments 

include footwear giant Kurt Geiger, and 

catalogue retailer Coldwater Creek. 

Sycamore will now take on the company, 

who are still in decline despite multiple efforts 

to turn its fortunes around. Both sales and 

profits have continued to fall for Staples, since 

last year’s ruling against the potential merger 

with Office Depot. Management finally 

decided to accept the offer following reports 

suggesting shareholders were losing 

confidence: Shares in the company were 

trading at around $7 (€5.9) earlier this year, 

compared to roughly $18 (€15.3) a share two 

and a half years ago. In this context, 

Sycamore’s offer, of $10.25 (€8.73) a share, 

arguably represents a good deal, being a 20 

percent premium over the company’s share 

price back in early April 2017. Robert Sulentic, 

Chairman of Staples, was stoic about the 

agreement, calling it “a transaction which is in 

the best interests of our stockholders, as well 

as Staples and its employees.” 

Recent years have been increasingly testing 

for Staples – indeed, the news of this 

agreement is seen as being yet another blow 

for physical retailers, and another casualty of 

the ever-increasing dominance of online 

shopping. The company’s most recent annual 

report noted that it faces competition from 

both wholesalers and local stationery stores, 

although it acknowledged too that this is only 

part of the problem. “We also compete with 

online retailers such as Amazon.com, mass 

merchants such as Walmart and Target, 

warehouse clubs such as Costco, and 

computer and electronics retail stores such as 

Best Buy”, the report admitted. Despite this 

competition, over recent years Staples has 

shifted to become stronger online than 

otherwise, with $10.6 billion (€9 billion) of its 

sales delivered, compared with around 

$6.6billion (€5.6 billion) in physical bricksand-mortar 

stores. For a business seemingly 

on the wane, they continue to sell huge 

volumes of printer cartridges, paper and 

electronics, and they retain a relatively healthy 

balance sheet, with very little debt (circa 

$1 billion / €0.8 billion in total.) With this in 

mind, Staples presents Sycamore Partners 

with a large and potentially profitable 

opportunity. The firm reportedly plans to shift 

Staples’ business model, moving away from 

serving consumers and towards catering 

to companies. What else is in the pipeline, 

however, remains to be seen. Were Sycamore 

to follow the usual traditions of private equity, 

it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them begin to 

streamline the company’s operations, whilst 

possibly issuing dividends designed to enrich 

the firm. However, they could yet find 

alternative ways to strengthen Staples, 

including the revival of the controversial 

merger with Office Depot. 

The proposed merger with Staples’ fellow 

office supply colossus was first mooted back 

in January 2015, but later that year the Federal 

Trust Commission sued the two companies 

under antitrust law. In May 2016, a United 

States District Court agreed with the FTC, 

declaring that the merger would “substantially 

impair” competition in the office supply 

business. It was a decision that sent the stocks 

of both Staples and Office Depot plummeting, 

and arguably led to Staples resorting to their 

recent agreement with Sycamore. Since then, 

the company has been slowly dismantling 

many of its worldwide operations. In 

December last year, it announced the sale of a 

controlling stake in its European business to 

another New York-based private equity firm, 

Cerberus Capital Management (who had also 

been involved in talks with the company prior 

to the Sycamore agreement.) The Cerberus 

deal, worth $53.6 million (€50 million), was 

designed at the time to allow Staples to focus 

on their North American operations – a 

focus which in the long run could not 

produce a turnaround, with up to 70 further 

stores slated to close, in addition to those 

closed already. 

In the race to rescue the company on one 

side of the Atlantic, Staples also sold its UK 

retail business and operations last year to 

Hilco Capital, renowned for coming to the 

rescue of companies in trouble and perhaps 

most widely known in Britain as the owners 

of entertainment retailers HMV. Hilco 

announced in November, upon completion of 

the deal, a planned phasing-out of the Staples 

brand in the United Kingdom, with all 106 

branches to be rebadged under the new 

moniker Office Outlet, whilst also promising 

changes in products, promotions and pricing. 

Having begun the rebranding process in 

February of this year, it is nearing completion, 

with the former Plymouth branch being the 

latest to unveil its new look. 

Like the relinquishing of its European 

operations to Cerberus, Staples’ retreat from 

Britain was intended to reinvigorate its 

fortunes in North America. However, 

following the multi-billion dollar agreement 

with Sycamore, it seems clear that Staples 

have finally admitted defeat. The deal is 

expected to be finalised by the end of 2017, at 

which point it appears a tough few years for 

Staples will at last draw to a close - in a fiercely 

resisted, but ultimately inevitable, manner. 

On 26 July the U.S. Federal Trade 

Commission granted early termination of the 

waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino 

Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR 

Act”) with respect to the pending acquisition 

of Staples by investment funds managed by 

Sycamore Partners. 

The termination of the waiting period 

under the HSR Act satisfies one of the 

conditions to the closing of the pending 

acquisition, which remains subject to other 

customary closing conditions, including 

Staples’ stockholder approval. 


The Inside Track 

The Inside Track: Katun’s Yvette 

Dessauvagie on 10 years in the industry 

The Recycler spoke to Dessauvagie, Katun EMEA’s International Sales Office Coordinator, about her 10 years in the 

aftermarket, how she got into the industry, her achievements and challenges faced and how the industry has changed. 

How did you 

first start out 

at Katun? 

After nearly 10 years 

of commuting three 

hours to work 

every day for an 

international 

construction 

company, I applied 

for a secretarial job 

at Katun’s European 

Distribution Centre in my hometown of 

Gorinchem. After starting out as a 

receptionist/secretary, three months later 

becoming an office coordinator and a 

further seven months on I started work as 

an international sales assistant. 

What’s been 

your biggest 

achievement 

since working 

there? 

Coordinating travelling/hotels/transfers/ 

visa and appointments for our sales 

reps and customers - and eventplanning 

including fine-tuning of all 

details for both our sales team, as for our 

participating partners, is what I like to 

see as my biggest contribution since 

starting work at Katun. 

What’s 

been your 

biggest 

challenge? 

Katun is an international 

company, 

and I am looking 

after the EMEA 

region, therefore 

my biggest challenge 

so far has 

been to keep our 

travelling sales team 

safe. I am keeping an eye on travel alerts 

and news flashes 24/7, and I keep track 

of the travel schedules of our 

representatives. Getting our travellers 

home during the 2010 Iceland ash 

eruptions, and getting our people out of 

Cairo during the June 2013 riots have 

been challenging. 

How has 

the industry 

changed since 

you’ve been working 

at Katun? 

Travel is 

becoming 

more and more 

important. Even though there are 

new technologies that make 

communication cheaper and easier 

(Skype, WhatsApp, etcetera), nothing 

beats real interpersonal contact. At 

Katun we want to visit our partners, 

wherever they reside. I am very proud to 

help realise Katun customer visits and 

events around the globe. 

R 


Wide-Format Column 

CAD has hooks in the move from 

2D to 3D printing 

Computer-assisted design and drafting has a history from about 60 years ago, and is moving from 

2D wide-format printing to 3D printing as a natural evolution. 

Printers that do rapid-prototyping and 

other types of 3D printing are 

extremely dependent on the software 

to make a product pass muster. CAD 

programs such as SolidWorks, 

AutoCAD and Fusion 360 provide 

libraries, tools for estimating costs, 

geometric conversion, error searches, 

rendering, actual simulated 

movement, collaboration and file 

management. It doesn’t have to cost 

a bundle, either. Trial CAD programs 

are available and some programs 

such as Google SketchUp and 

Autodesk CAD provide a free 

download. 

In the AEC industry, one of the 

most useful aspects of CAD is 

building a structural design building 

information model (BIM), which the 

architect initiates through drawings. 

The differing aspects of such models 

help determine such things as stress 

on members, aesthetic aspects and 

overall structural continuity. 

Some plans can be imported into 

the overall CAD design. The BIM for 

such external forces as gravity may 

reflect snow or wind load, including 

truss load, cross sections, and other 

components where the 3D model 

can evaluated soundness. Then 

recalculations can be made on the 

members of the structure, support 

columns and so forth. 

CAD is not the lone process used in 

3D BIM. Computer-aided engineering 

(CAE) and computer-aided 

manufacturing (CAM) are part of 

this process. After the CAD model 

is constructed, computer-aided 

engineering is used for verification of 

“ 

CAD speeded 

drawing and made it 

feasible for engineers 

to do drawings 

themselves, draw the 

project faster 

“ 

the CAD model before it is put into 

CAM. The CAE phase of the project 

incorporates many other tools used in 

the disciplines such as Finite Element 

Analysis (FEA) for stress analysis 

purposes in components. 

FEA analyses the structure and the 

physical aspects of the model 

simultaneously. 

Why use CAD and CAE for 

developing a 3D model? It diminishes 

not only many prototypes but also the 

design costs of the project. 

InventorCAM, integrated for Autodesk 

Inventor, allows simulation of the 

product, but also collaboration with 

engineers that are part of a 

collaborative team to help move 

along the project. Then once design 

and evaluation are thoroughly 

evaluated, the project can be 

engineered and completed through 

manufacture. 

“CAD is extensively used today in 

the product design and AEC 

industries, said Ralph Bond, press 

relations manager, AEC, Autodesk, 

San Rafael, California, USA. “I don’t 

have a percentage of professionals 

using computer aided design, but I 

would have to guess it is an 

overwhelming majority.” 

History of CAD 

CAD’s roots trace to a man named 

Dr. Patrick J. Hanratty, a scientist 


Tel: 01993 899800 • info@therecycler.com • therecycler.com 

working for General Electric in the 

USA. In 1957, Hanratty developed 

the first commercial numericalcontrol 

programming system that was 

used in magnetic-ink character 

recognition system by bankers. After 

several unsuccessful attempts at 

CAD, he built a product using a 

popular computer language in 1971. 

The CAD/CAM (computer-aided 

manufacturing) code he developed is 

still in use in most CAD programs. 

CAD speeded drawing and made it 

feasible for engineers to do drawings 

themselves, draw the project faster 

and increase the number of projects. 

Starting as a sketchpad, design 

engineers replaced wireframes 

(skeletal representations of a project) 

with computerised drawing boards. 

In the early ‘90s, software for 

wireframe generation using UNIX 

systems migrated to PCs in the 

3D area. 

Building Information Modeling 

focus of Autodesk 

Building information is a major focus 

of CAD programs today. 

“Our AEC solutions are all 3D and 

focused on Building Information 

Modeling,” said Bond of Autodesk, 

“and the increase in acceptance of 

3D printing in the AEC field is not 

directly tied to an increase in the 

popularity/use of our AEC solutions.” 

Bond said they offered “some very 

simple, consumer oriented design 

solutions, but the real focus of 

Autodesk is to provide design 

professionals with sophisticated 

solutions. And for the AEC industry 

it is all about software solutions to 

support Building Information 

Modeling. As these programs/ 

solutions are sophisticated, they are 

aimed at professionals in the field, 

not general consumers.” 

Autodesk offers a number of cloudenabled 

solutions for the AEC 

industry such as the BIM 360 line of 

products “that foster/facilitate multiteam, 

multi-discipline, geographically 

dispersed collaboration.” 

CAD today and tomorrow 

With the advent of more affordable 

3D printers – whether focusing light 

into a polymer (fused-deposition 

modeling) or multiple-layered 


37

Wide Format Column: CAD has hooks in the move from 2D to 3D printing 

printing – more affordable 

prototyping and design is at the 

desk of many engineers or 

architects. Not only is intervention 

easier on the design, the 

fabrication is easier. Also, instead 

of exporting an .stl file, in 

Solidworks, the printing takes 

place directly, all the while saving 

the print settings. The project can 

be saved to the “cloud” for 

comment by other AEC team 

members. 

One of the aspects of 3D 

printing in the 2000s rapidly 

growing is sharing. Thingiverse 

has multiple designs for home 

users, for example MakerBot 

allows users to explore native CAD 

designs for fabrication. 

With 3D CAD today, there is 

precision, analysis and exact 

measurement. More types of 

designs can be offered to a client, 

with individual components of 

each. Experimentation with ultrahard 

and ultralight materials is 

underway with many projects, and 

experimentation is abundant in 

the field to explore how materials 

would integrate into a 3D CAD 

design. 

It is expected that in time, the 

current 3D CAD will evolve into 

CAD 3D software that can make 

objects closer to physical reality 

and be more customized to fit the 

needs of professionals and their 

customers. Some envision no flat 

screens or pointing mouse for 3D 

printing in the future, which 

would be more like a sculptor 

working on marble. 

R 

Editor’s Note: Neal McChristy is a 

freelance writer with over 30 years 

journalism experience in magazine, 

newspaper and web-based work. He 

has been contributing editor for a 

magazine column in the wide-format 

industry for seven years. He also has 

20 years’ experience as writer, editor 

and editorial contributor in the printing 

and imaging area. He likes to 

correspond with readers and can be 

reached at freelance9@cox.net. 

Stratasys recycling gives jobs 

to disabled people 

Stratasys began recycling 3D printer 

products beginning in early 2015, 

providing free shipping within the USA 

and Canada for such items as FDM 

canisters and PolyJet cartridges for 

recycling. The service by Stratasys, 

Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA, also 

provides work for people at Lifeworks, 

a non-profit organization for disabled 

people that recycles the products 

for reuse. 

Lifeworks, a Twin Cities company 

that recycled the Stratasys products, 

will have plenty of work in coming 

years. There are forecasts for a 

ballooning of the 3D printing market 

from 2015-2020. Research firm 

Gartner forecast 3D printers shipped in 

2016 would nearly double units 

shipped in 2015. Gartner also forecast 

the total enterprise and consumer 3D 

printer worldwide shipments will 

expand at a 98.5 percent compound 

annual growth rate through 2020, and 

total spending will grow at a 66.5 

percent CAGR to $17.7 billion 

(€14.99 billion) in 2020. 

The Stratasys/Lifeworks cooperation 

makes new canisters and cartridges 

from old ones for 3D printing 

customers, with all details from 

shipping to unwinding leftover FDM 3D 

printing material from used spools and 

chopping it for recycling. Once the 

recycling is complete, new FDM 

canisters and PolyJet cartridges are 

manufactured and filled with 3D 

printing material before being shipped 

back to customers. 

“Being able to recycle both FDM 

canisters and PolyJet cartridges brings 

some significant business benefits to 

our customers,” said Gilad Gans, 

President of Stratasys North America 

operations.” It helps them eliminate 

waste disposal shipping costs, reduces 

logistical worries, saves space and 

helps our customers better adhere to 

local compliance.” 

Helping disabled people 

Lifeworks, which disassembles and 

processes the recycled items, is a 

Minnesota Twin Cities nonprofit 

organization founded in 1965 by 

parents of children with disabilities, 

with a mission to serve both disabled 

people and the community. 

The company partners with about 

300 businesses and provides fiscal 

support, employment and day services 

to over 800 individuals with disabilities 

such as autism, down syndrome, 

cerebral palsy and seizure disorders. 

The website of Lifeworks says, “We 

envision a community where people 

with disabilities are more broadly 

valued, hired by employers, receiving 

support, and participating in ordinary 

activities.” 

Information on company website 

For people using the service, a prepaid 

shipping label can be obtained by 

going to the company website, 

http://www.stratasys.com/customer 

-support. UPS will pick up and deliver 

the recyclables to Lifeworks. 

Cartridges, canisters, spools, print 

engines. Eden / Connex Cartridges and 

desktop printers can be recycled, but 

not F123 Spools or PolyJet Waste 

Containers. 

“The new recycling program is one 

way we’re making 3D printing and 

additive manufacturing more 

convenient and accessible for 

everyone,” said Zehavit Reisin, Vice 

President for Stratasys Materials 

Business Unit. “We also believe that it 

gives our customers the satisfaction of 

knowing they’re doing their bit to help 

the environment while at the same 

time supporting jobs for people with 

disabilities in our community. The more 

our customers recycle, the more we’ll 

be able to expand the size and scope of 

our Lifeworks team in Eden Prairie.” 



39

Feature 

The Inkjet Renaissance 

Ten years ago, forty percent of inkjet consumable sales were non-OEM compatibles and in some markets that was as high as 

sixty percent. Sales of remanufactured inkjet cartridges were typically HP and Lexmark with a few big players like UK based 

Environmental Business Products (EBP), Clover, Speed and a lot of refilling done by the plethora of refill shops like 

Cartridge World. The market share for remanufactured inkjet cartridges were around fourteen percent of the market. 

Fast forward to today and the market is 

changing. Less compatibles are being 

produced and globally the inkjet 

compatibles market shrank around 

twenty three percent last year and the 

trend looks set to continue this year and 

next year. 

So, you might be forgiven in thinking 

that inkjet is in decline. Xerox and 

Lexmark have exited the inkjet market, 

CBR no longer make refilling technology 

and the OEM’s are developing technical 

and marketing strategies to hold 

consumers longer before they transition 

to remanufactured and refilled inkjet 

cartridges. 

Yet the remanufacturing of inkjet 

cartridges is on the increase. Cartridge 

collectors can not get enough empties 

and the demand for ink supplies are 

increasing, business inkjet is growing 

and there is a lot of interest in the latest 

remanufacturing technology entering the 

market. Why? 

During The Recycler Live conference, 

in Warsaw we caught up with Benjamin 

Young, one of the founders and CEO of 

Speed Infotech, a leading remanufacturer 

of inkjet cartridges, who shared 

some insights into their business. 

The Recycler: For our readers tell us 

about yourself and how you came to 

enter the remanufacturing market? 

Benjamin: I graduated from university, 

majoring in international business and I 

worked for a very big state owned 

company in China for 5 years as a 

department manager. I left in 2001 with 

two colleagues, Charles and Ricky, to set 

up Speed Infotech in Shanghai. 

The Recycler: What were the factors 

that led you to choose inkjet 

remanufacturing? 

Benjamin: It was by chance. We 

started with trading different products 

related to computers, but it was hard 

to generate continuous customer 

satisfaction, so we decided to focus on 

one range of products. At that time, we 

had two or three good customers 

who wanted to have inkjet, the choice 

was made. 

The Recycler: What is your vision for 

Speed Infotech? 

Benjamin: Our vision for the company 

is to become the world's leading 

remanufacturer of aftermarket print 

consumables and delivering outstanding 

quality, competitive pricing, timely 

deliveries and excellent service. 

The Recycler: Will your focus 

continue as a remanufacturer of inkjet 

cartridges? 

Benjamin: We think that we are doing the 

right thing with the environment. We pick 

up empty cartridges from the waste and 

put them back to life again. This is a 

green world, that reduces costs for the 

end-user and creates more value for 

different people. We are proud of what 

we do and we believe that there will 

always be a global demand for 

remanufactured inkjet products and we 

hope that our efforts help to do 

something to save the planet. 


“ 

The lifeblood of every remanufacturer is a stable 

and constant supply of empties 

“ 

The Recycler: What is your 

commercial strategy? 

Benjamin: Adding and creating value is 

our basic strategy. We do this by 

investing and understanding our partners 

(including customers and suppliers) and 

their market, and develop strategies to 

bring more profit and long term profit and 

success, basically by helping them to sell 

more. The customer is always more 

important than ourselves, and we help 

them to sell more and earn more. We do 

this by focusing on our quality and by 

being reliable and trustworthy. The more 

we build this type of relationships the 

more our customers can sell and earn, 

and yes we can have a more stable and 

profitable business. 

The Recycler: Empty cartridges must 

be critical to your business, what is 

your collection strategy? 

Benjamin: The lifeblood of every 

remanufacturer is a stable and constant 

supply of empties, and when you 

produce a remanufactured inkjet 

cartridge every two seconds, you need 

several million empty cartridges in the 

warehouse to meet this voracious 

appetite. Speed is 100 percent 

focused on remanufacturing inkjet 

cartridges because the world needs 

high quality remanufactured products. 

We don't produce compatible cartridges, 

and we hope that by our efforts, we do 

something to save the planet. 


The Recycler: Do you manage to 

collect enough cartridges? 

Benjamin: The company has grown over 

thirty percent in the last year or so, the 

fasted period since the company started 

in 2001. We produce a lot of inkjet 

cartridges every month and we need 

more if we are to continue to grow and 

that means our logistics team is working 

around the clock with cartridge 

collectors, brokers, remanufacturers and 

customers to keep our production 

flowing, especially as demand continues 

to increase every month. 

The Recycler: This must present 

some supply chain issues for you? 

Benjamin: Managing the supply chain is 

crucial to our business and our cartridge 

supplier community. We understand that 

a stable market works for all our partners 

who, like us, value long-term relationships. 

We work hard to ensure our 

partners know how we work, our product 

needs and volumes and our shipping and 

inspection criteria. Our partners can 

expect us to buy all models and once 

volumes and prices are agreed expect 

prompt payment as soon as their 

shipments clear inspection. Our longterm 

strategy allows everyone to benefit 

from a stable market that works for all our 

partners. 

As we continue to grow, we are always 

looking for new and stable sources of 

empty inkjet cartridges, and no quantity 

is too small or too large." 

The Recycler: Importing empties into 

China has always been a challenge, 

how have you overcome this? 

Benjamin: We are very proud that Speed 

has campaigned to change the law of 

China, that forbade the importing of used 

inkjet empties for more than 10 years. 

Speed is the first and only company 

approved and licensed by the Chinese 

Central Government to import used inkjet 

cartridges. We know that the government 

41

FEATURE: The Inkjet Renaissance 

is introducing new, tighter regulations, 

but this will not impact on Speed, but this 

will be a problem for smaller factories in 

future as China takes a more proactive 

environmental strategy. 

The Recycler: How do you see the 

collections and broker business 

developing in the future? 

Benjamin: We want to integrate 

customers, empties collectors and the 

factory as closely as possible. We are 

discussing with our suppliers, how to 

help them sell everything that they collect 

and reduce costs and improve their 

ability to collect more from the market. 

Scalability is a key factor and ensures a 

more volume and price stable market 

and I think in future, there will be less 

demand for broker style deals. 

The Recycler: Tell me about your 

factory today. 

Benjamin: The factory is in Beihai, China 

and the sales centre is based in 

Shanghai, with more than 500 staff. We 

have over 20 different production lines 

producing full ranges of HP, Canon, 

Epson, Brother remanufactured inkjet 

cartridges. Speed is certified of ISO 

9001/14001/18001, along with TUV-CE 

and other EU inspection standards. Over 

the last 17 years we have developed a 

wealth of production experience and 

know-how and successfully produced 

over 60 million cartridges. Today we 

produce a cartridge every two seconds. 

The Recycler: Why did you select 

Beihai as a location for your factory? 

Benjamin: This is part of a larger 

strategy to double the size of our 

business and was a big risk when we 

decided to move in 2014. We had the 

factory in Shanghai for 10 years, it was 

12,000 m 2 and we employed 250-300 

people. We saw that Shanghai was 

changing from a production centre to a 

commercial centre and decided that we 

needed to find a new location where we 

could expand. We looked at Taiwan and 

Malaysia, but decided on Beihai because 

it is still in China, though 2000 km away, 

and we feel it will become an important 

recycling centre for the government over 

the next few years. Beihai is a popular 

tourist destination and there is a growing 

manufacturing base with a lot of local 

labour that helps provide continuity in our 

manufacturing. Incredibly, once we 

made the decision about the move, we 

found a factory double of our current size 

and the entire move was completed and 

all settled in just three months. 

Within the factory we have developed 

what I call our eco-system that works well 

and enables us to grow. We are doing a 

very good job in Beihai and the 

government is gaining confidence with 

the remanufacturing industry and Beihai 

has just been approved by central 

government to become the No. 3 city of 

China National remanufacturing centre. 

The Recycler: What challenges have 

you faced to grow the business? 

Benjamin: Ours has not been an easy 

endeavour by any means and although 


“ 

But the heart of the business is an emphasis 

on our customers’ needs and profit 

“ 

market difficulties, we have continued 

to invest our profit in ongoing R&D. We 

do not treat our company as a cash 

machine, but to fulfil our dream to build 

a great business. All the Speed cofounders 

are still in the company, taking 

major responsibility in daily jobs, 

leading all the team to a new height. We 

always love to create, not copy. We love 

to be the new one but not only repeated 

job with big volume. 

The market is changing quickly and 

we must continue invest and change 

according to any new situation, Speed 

is very agile and flexible to fit in every 

scenario. Technology is crucial and 

R&D is in every facet of our production 

and business models. 

The Recycler: What mistakes have 

you made and how did you 

overcome them? 

Benjamin: Quality issues were a 

problem in 2014, as we are moving 

factory, but we overcome the problems 

quickly by focusing on higher 

standards. 

The Recycler: What do you attribute 

your growth and success to? 

Benjamin: From day one we have 

developed a more European style of 

thinking, and have a deep insight of 

the industry, always ahead from 

competitors. It is important that we do 

not always sit in our own chair. We are 

willing to set up and keep long term 

partner relationships with clients, as we 

believe cooperation is the best way to 

develop the win-win situation. But the 

heart of the business is an emphasis on 

our customers’ needs and profit and we 

are always focused on helping our 

customers win more business. We 

believe when our customers can have 

more business and profit, Speed’s 

business will be stable. We also do not 

like to repeat things but do and think 

differently to create value. 

On the manufacturing side, we 

have seventeen years history and 

experience and produced over 

60 million remanufactured inkjet 

cartridges. We have the know how to 

design and produce the production 

machines in house. 

The Recycler: How would you 

describe Speed Infotech in 5 short 

sentences? 

Benjamin: A tough challenge, but I 

will try: 

a. We are proud we are a green 

company, doing very meaningful job. 

b. We are always thinking how to create 

value to our partner. 

c. Nothing is permanent, except 

change - Speed is a big volume 

remanufacturer, but we still enjoy the 

fast and flexible pace of change in 

the industry. 

d. We keep investing because we are 

confident with what we are doing. 

e. Our staff is the best partner we can 

find in the world. 

The Recycler: Would you do it 

again? 

Benjamin: Yes, but if you let me do it 

again, I will make a bigger map. R 


43

Retail Column 

The foundation of great 

companies 

What is CULTURE? 

It is how your people behave toward 

one another and their customers. How 

do people interact and treat one 

another? What is truly valued? 

Teamwork or winning? Do people 

focus on beating the competition or 

each other? What is held up as 

examples of highest praise? Do people 

work late because they get in a high 

productivity groove or because they 

are overworked and afraid they will 

be sacked? 

There are cultural clues to be seen 

as soon as you walk into a company. 

Look for signs about upcoming 

celebrations or personal achievements, 

metrics and scorecards publicly posted 

and up to date. Scan the public 

bulletin board. Are there letters from 

grateful customers or a poster that 

says “Customer complaints here” over 

a one inch by one inch square? 

Cubicles filled with sarcastic posters 

or cartoons say a lot about the 

true culture. 

Observe meetings. Are they 

organized and productive? Do people 

participate? What happens when 

someone disagrees? Do people arrive 

prepared? Do they greet one another 

or dive right in? It is easy to see the 

authentic culture once you start 

looking for it. 

Culture is created by and 

through people. A company can 

have any system, product, asset or 

location. But only people create a 

company’s culture. 

If leaders wish to build and care for 

their company’s culture, there are 4 

critical times to make choices to set 

the tone and expectations: 

1. Hiring 

Leaders need to be up front about 

exactly the kind of company a 

candidate is joining to make sure that 

they are going to be a fit with the 

desired culture. Too often, hiring 

managers sugar coat the realities of 

the working expectations because 

they do not want to “scare away” a 

candidate. Set honest expectations 

about the job. If it is standard to work 

two weekends per month or if closing 

Flora Delaney 

No matter the size or revenues of a company, what sets apart great companies from merely competitive 

companies is CULTURE. As leadership guru Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” What he 

meant is that the greatest strategy in the world will not succeed in a company with a poor culture. Yet many 

times, senior leadership spends the majority of their time determining their strategy with very little focus on 

the people and the culture they create every day. 

one night and opening the next day 

will be common or if emails are 

expected to be answered immediately 

after hours let the candidates know 

up front. It will help separate the 

thriving team members from the 

future disgruntled employees. If a 

manager cannot promise more than 

24 hours per week for a part-timer, 

but hires them with the promise that 

there will be 30 hours a week, it will 

only lead to an employee who is 

unhappy and doesn’t trust 

management. Set realistic - even 

harsh - expectations up front and 

only hire those candidates who are 

still eager for the job. 


Tel: 01993 899800 • info@therecycler.com • therecycler.com 

2. Reviewing 

There is a common misperception that 

reviews are done once per year and 

that they are a single scheduled event. 

In truth, “reviews” should happen after 

nearly every encounter when a 

manager sees a great transaction or 

delivery or one that does not meet the 

standards. Because a review is 

feedback about a performance. 

Feedback can happen every day. 

Feedback shouldn’t always be 

corrective. A simple “I really liked how 

quickly you connected with that 

customer” is feedback. People who like 

to succeed, like feedback. They like to 

hear how they are doing and that 

there is someone who cares enough 

about them to watch and give 

pointers. Obviously, there are ways to 

do this with impact and in the past I 

have written about effectively 

coaching in a retail environment. But 

by encouraging the behaviours that 

support the desired culture and 

discouraging the unwanted behaviours, 

a manager can impact and improve 

culture every day. 

3. Rewarding 

Hand in glove with reviewing goes 

rewarding. And just as reviewing 

should be a constant, so should 

rewarding. If you imagine that you 

cannot afford to reward your best 

employees, the truth is you cannot 

afford not to. Napoleon said “No 

amount of money will induce a person 

to lay down their life, but they will 

gladly do so for a bit of yellow ribbon.” 

Because recognition is more valuable 

than money in rewarding employees 

to build culture. The more creative 

“free” rewards I have seen include: 

• the prime parking spot awarded 

monthly to a selected employee 

that rotates each month. 

• a lunch with the CEO where once 

per month select employees get a 

catered lunch and dedicated face 

time with the Big Boss. 


“ 

Culture is created 

by and through people. 

A company can have any 

system, product, asset or 

location. But only people 

create a company’s 

culture. 

“ 

• a “sleep in” certificate that gives an 

employee a two-hour late morning 

to reward exemplary behaviour. 

• “Swap the desk” one day an 

employee gets to do their work in 

the boss’ office while the boss 

works at their cubicle. (THAT is 

eye opening!) 

• Hand written notes. Notes to your 

employees, written by hand and 

mailed to their homes can have a 

real impact. Especially if they are 

specific and can be shared with 

their families. 

4. Firing 

Assuming you have given a poor 

performer every chance by explaining 

and training the expectations and 

provided clear communication, nothing 

sets the tone more with the remaining 

staff members than seeing a poor 

performer terminated. Frankly, in a 

company with a strong culture, hires 

who do not fit will often feel 

uncomfortable enough to leave of 

their own accord. But by showing how 

employees who do not perform, 

commit to the team or live up to your 

expected values etc., are fired, the staff 

will see that the company will take 

action to live up to its core values. 

Finally, as a leader it is important to 

remember that 70-90 percent of 

communication is non-verbal. Body 

language, facial expression and tone 

are more important than word 

selection in communicating. As a role 

model for the organization , your 

employees learn more about what is 

accepted by watching you than by 

listening to you or reading your 

emails. You must walk the talk to be a 

credible example of the culture you 

expect. Once everyone is clear about 

how your company operates, the 

foundation is set to achieve 

company goals. 

R 

Flora Delaney is a retail consultant and 

advisor to the remanufactured cartridge 

industry in the US. A seasoned retail 

executive, Flora’s clients benefit from 

her holistic approach and pragmatic 

solutions. Email flora@floradelaney.com 

to reach her. 

45

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 


GLOBAL Apex, Chips, Resetting 

Apex releases new replacement chips and chip 

resetting solution 

The manufacturer has released new replacement chips for use in Brother, Canon, Xerox, Kyocera, Sindoh and Utax printers and a chip 

resetting solution for Brother III series. 

The vast range of new replacement chips 

includes the first-to-market launch of the ASIC 

designed chip for Canon CRG-042 series 

cartridges. 

Canon launched LBP443i/LBP442/LBP441/ 

LBP441e A3 monochrome laserjet series in 

April 2017. The print speeds are up to 43 ppm. 

The printers support USB printing, and the 

data processing is 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi. 

Other launches include chips for use with 

Canon Color imageCLASS LBP654Cdw, Canon 

Color imageCLASS MF735Cdw, Canon Color 

imageCLASS MF731Cdw/MF733Cdw, Canon 

Color i-SENSYS MF732Cdw/734Cdw/735Cx, 

Canon Color i-SENSYS LBP654Cx/653Cdw, 

Canon Satera LBP654C/LBP652C/LBP651C, 

Canon Satera MF735Cdw/MF733Cdw/ 

MF731Cdw, Canon Color imageCLASS 

MF634Cdw/MF632Cdw, Canon Color 

i-SENSYS MF631Cn/633Cdw/635Cx, Canon 

Color imageCLASS LBP612Cdw, Canon Color 

i-SENSYS LBP611Cn/613Cdw, Canon Satera 

LBP612C/ LBP611C, Canon Satera MF634Cdw/ 

MF632Cdw and Canon Satera LBP443i/ 

LBP442/ LBP441/LBP441e cartridges. 

Replacement chips for Xerox Phaser 6510, 

Xerox WorkCentre 6515n, Xerox Phaser 

6510n/dn/dnm/dni, Xerox WorkCentre 

6515n/dn/ dnm/dni, Xerox VersaLink 

C400N/DN/DNM, Xerox VersaLink C405, Xerox 

VersaLink B400/B405, Xerox VersaLink 

C400N/DN/DNM, Xerox VersaLink C405 were 

also announced. 

The Sindoh range was extended with chips 

for Sindoh A420dn/A621dn/A620dn and 

Sindoh A621dn/A620dn. 

Also available now are chips for Kyocera 

TASKalfa 4002i/5002i/6002i, Kyocera TASKalfa 

2552ci, Kyocera TASKalfa 5052ci/6052ci, 

Kyocera TASKalfa 5052ci/6052ci, Kyocera 

TASKalfa 5052ci/6052ci, Kyocera TASKalfa 

4052ci and finally Utax 4006 Ci/5006 Ci. 

New announcements for replacement chips 

for Brother cartridges included chips for 

use in Brother MFC-J5830DW, Brother MFC- 

J5830DW XL, Brother MFC-J6535DW, Brother 

MFC-J6535DW XL, Brother MFC-J5930DW, 

Brother MFC-J6935DW, Brother MFC- 

J5330DW, Brother MFC-J6530DW, Brother 

MFC-J6930DW, Brother MFC-J6730DW, 









MFC-J6935DW, Brother MFC-J6995CDW, 

Brother MFC-J6980CDW, Brother MFC- 

J6580CDW, Brother MFC-J2330DW, Brother 

MFC-J2730DW, Brother MFC-J3530DW and 

Brother MFCJ-3930DW. 

The resetting solution for Brother 

LC3029/LC3017 series offers endless resets to 

the collected OEM chip via Apex’s Unismart 

system if there is no hardware damage on the 

chip. The features of resetting solution 

include full ink volume of the reset chips and 

right match-up of chip information and ink 

consumption. 

Resettable models include for the US 

Brother MFC-J5830DW/J5830DW XL/J6535DW, 

Brother MFC-J6535DW XL/J5930DW/J6935DW, 


J6530DW, Brother MFC-J6930DW and Brother 

MFC-J6730DW. 

For Europe the models are Brother MFC- 

J5330DW/J5335DW/J5730DW/J5930DW and 

Brother MFC-J6530DW/J6930DW/J6935DW. 

For Australia models include Brother MFC- 

J5330DW/J5730DW/J6530DW, Brother MFC- 

J6930DW/J6730DW and Brother MFC- 

J5930DW/J6935DW. 

For Japan the resetting solution works for 

Brother MFC-J6995CDW and Brother MFC- 

J6980CDW/J6580CDW. 

For the Asia Pacific region the resetting 

solution woks with Brother MFC- 

J2330DW/J2730DW/J3530DW and Brother 

MFC-J3930DW. 

For more information, please visit 

www.apexmic.com. 

Aster launches second Brother series 

EUROPE Aster, Cartridges, Brother 

The company has launched replacement toner cartridges for Brother TN-426 and TN-910 colour series. 

In May 2017 Aster released replacement 

toners for Brother TN-421 and TN-423 

series. With this new launch they are now 

offering both series for Brother machines 

which were introduced this March. 

The replacement toners for TN-426 series 

are compatible with Brother HL-L8360CDW 

and MFC-L8900CDW; and the replacement 

toners for TN-910 series are compatible 

with Brother HL-L9310CDW, HL- 

L9310CDWT, HL-L9310CDWT, MFC- 

L9570CDW and MFC-L9570CDWT. 

The TN-426 and the TN-910 series are 

designed for a high-volume print 

environment. Cartridges for the TN-426 

series, have page yields of 9,000 pages in 

black and 6,500 pages in colour; while the 

TN-910 series has a page yield of 9,000 

pages in both black and colour. 


www.goaster.com. 




GLOBAL Pantum, Printers 

New Pantum models to be released 

Pantum International Limited is adding three new printer models to their lines later on this year. 

The three models which will be introduced in the 

last quarter of this year are the Pantum CM7000DN 

which is a colour laser multifunction device that 

will print 32 pages per minute, the Pantum 

P5000DN a 42 pages per minute black and white 

laser printer and the Pantum M7600FDN a 

multifunction device based on the P5000DN 

printer. 

The Pantum CM7000DN has a print speed of 32 

ppm when printing black and 32 ppm when 

printing colour. Time to first page is 10.5 seconds 

for black and 11.5 seconds for colour. The 

recommended maximum monthly duty cycle is 

85,000 pages with a recommended monthly page 

volume of 800 – 6,000 pages. The printer uses a 

separate drum unit and toner cartridge with the 

starter cartridge having a yield of 1,400 pages 

(CMYK). The replacement cartridge come in two 

versions, a yield of 1,000 pages black and colour, 

or 3,000 pages yield for the colour cartridge and 

4,000 pages for the black cartridge. The drum unit 

has a page yield of 40,000 pages. 

The Pantum P5000DN has a print speed of 

42ppm in A4, 45ppm in Letter, 18spm in A4 Duplex 

mode and 20spm in LTR Duplex mode. Time to 

first page is 6.5 seconds. The recommended 

EUROPE PPC Solutions Ltd, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

PPC Solutions Ltd announced that the 

remanufactured HP fuser units now in stock 

“offering huge savings compared to OEM 

equivalent.” 

Also announced were Ricoh consumables which 

extend PPC’s offering of their compatible toner 

range. The company extended the MPC2003/2503 

range of toners which now includes 

MPC2004/2504. The MPC3003/3503 range of 

toners now includes MPC3004/3504 and the 

MPC4503/5503/6003 range of toners now includes 

MPC4504/5504/6004. 


maximum monthly duty cycle is 12,000 pages and 

recommended monthly page volume is 1,500 – 

14,000 pages. The printer uses a separate drum 

unit and toner cartridge with the starter cartridge 

having a yield of 6,000 pages. The replacement 

cartridges come in three different versions, a 

“high-yield” cartridge for 5,000 pages, “extra highyield” 

cartridge for 10,000 pages and an “ultra 

high-yield” cartridge for 20,000 pages. The drum 

unit has a yield of 60,000 pages. 

The Pantum M7600FDN has a print speed of 

42ppm in A4, 45ppm in Letter, 18spm in A4 Duplex 

mode and 20spm in LTR Duplex mode. Time to 

first page is 6.5 seconds. The recommended 

maximum monthly duty cycle is 12,000 pages and 

recommended monthly page volume is 2000 – 

12,000 pages. The printer uses a separate drum 

unit and toner cartridge with the starter cartridge 

having a yield of 6,000 pages. The replacement 

cartridges come in three different versions, a 

“high-yield” cartridge for 5,000 pages, “extra highyield” 

cartridge for 10,000 pages and an “ultra 

high-yield” cartridge for 20,000 pages. The drum 

unit has a yield of 60,000 pages. 

For more information visit 

www.global.pantum.com 

New products from PPC Solutions Ltd 

The distributor announced that it now has remanufactured HP fuser units available and toner 

cartridges for Ricoh machines. 

For more information go to 

www.ppcsolutions.eu. 

EUROPE Jet Tec, Cartridges, 

Remanufacturing 

Jet Tec expands 

inkjet cartridge 

range 

The remanufacturer has 

announced the expansion of its 

range of remanufactured ink 

cartridges with the addition of 

new models for use in Canon 

printers. 

The new range of remanufactured 

ink cartridges are Canon PG-545XL 

and Canon PG-546XL. 

Last month Jet Tec introduced 

remanufactured ink cartridges for 

Epson T24 and T26 and earlier 

this year they added new 

remanufactured Brother toner 

cartridges, which increased Jet Tec’s 

product offer to more than 700 

products. 

Phil Sneath, Commercial Director 

at Jet Tec commented: “The 

remanufactured Canon PG-545XL 

and CL-546XL cartridges are 

important additions to our 

assortment of remanufactured 

products. The existing basis of this 

printer series from Canon is 

expanding, in order to be able to 

offer more and more printers in the 

attractive price segment. Jet Tec has 

accumulated years of experience and 

knowledge in the field of 

remanufacturing and is constantly 

investing in research and 

development. 

“Our consistently high standard 

guarantees the best possible product 

quality for ink cartridges and toner 

cartridges. And that we provide a 

two-year warranty on ink cartridges 

and three years on toner, confirms 

the confidence we have in our 

products.” 

For further details, please visit 

www.jettec.de 

47


GLOBAL Ninestar, Cartridges 

Ninestar releases 

cartridges for Brother 

The company has released patented inkjet 

cartridges for use in Brother printers 

The replacement cartridges are for use in 

Brother LC3219/3217 series. The inkjet 

cartridges are compatible with Brother MFC 

J6930DW, MFC J6530DW, MFC J6935DW, MFC 

J5730DW, MFC J5330DW, MFC J5930DW and 

MFC J5335DW. 


www.ggimage.com. 

EUROPE PRINTek, Cartridges, 

Remanufacturing 

PRINTek releases 

new products 

The company announced new releases of 

remanufactured inkjet cartridges for use 

in HP printers and laser cartridges for use 

in Brother machines. 

PRINTek has increased its product range with 

some recently developed remanufactured 

cartridges. The HP 62 inkjet cartridges are 

for use in HP Envy 5524/5545/7640 and 

OfficeJet200/250 printers and are available in 

standard and XL capacity 

Also available is a new range of laser 

cartridges for use in Brother TN241/242/245 

and 246 series colour laser printers. 

For more information, visit 

www.printek.hu. 

EUROPE IR Italiana, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

IR Italiana Riprografia announces 

new Graphic-jet cartridges 

The Italian company has widened their product range of Graphic-jet remanufactured 

HP cartridges for the new HP range with Jet Intelligence Technology. 

The company launched remanufactured 

inkjet cartridges for use in 

HP Laserjet Pro M402D and HP 

Laserjet Enterprise M552DN. 

The remanufactured cartridge 

for use in HP Laserjet PRO M402D 

comes with a page yield of 

9,000 pages. The remanufactured 

cartridge for use in HP Laserjet 

Enterprise M552DN comes with a 

page yield of 6,000 in black and 

5,000 in colour. 

This cartridge family is very 

different from the traditional one, it has 

reduced size up to 30 percent, uses micro 

powders and a sealing and shaking system 

completely revolutionised the cartridge. 

The above-mentioned cartridges feature 

the “following advantages”, according to IR 

Italiana Riprografia: “OEM equivalent print 

quality”; “100 percent compatibility with 

OEM toners”; “significant savings over [the] 

OEM”; “MSDS in compliance with REACH”; 

and that the “refurbished product = 

environmental benefits”. 

Additionally, the cartridges were produced 

“in a certificated environment” including the 

EUROPE Printlife, Cratridges, Remanufacturing 

The German remanufacturer has extended their range of own-brand cartridges with a 

range of Lexmark product now available. 

Printlife GmbH announced the addition of a 

range of remanufactured cartridges for the 

Lexmark CS/CX310/410/510 etc which are 

now available in their own-branded 

packaging. 

Christian Flögel, Sales Director at Printlife 

said: “This is another addition to our ever 

growing own-branded products. Previously 

these cartridges were only available in the 

neutral/ whitebox. With our own Printlife 

packaging we also ensure it is 

environmentally friendly and although the 

packaging only weighs 40 gramms it is 

incredible robust.” 

The cartridge range is part of Printlife’s 

Contact the news team at news@therecycler.com 

ISO 9001:2008 quality management system 

certificate; the ISO 14001:2004 environmental 

management system certificate; and 

the BS OHSAS 18001:2007 occupational 

health and safety management system 

certificate. All of the company’s 

remanufactured products also feature the 

Ecolabel ISO 14021:2012 environmental 

certification, while the “product 

performances of several items distributed” 

follow the standards set by STMC and ISO 

19752 and ISO 19798. 


www.itrip.it. 

Printlife extends own-branded 

cartridges 

own-branded range that was established in 

2016. 


www.print-life.de. 


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EUROPE wta, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

New remanufactured Canon cartridges 

from wta 

The German remanufacturer has launched a new range of remanufactured cartridges for use in Canon imageRunner printer series. 

The first launch includes remanufactured 

toner cartridges for use in Canon IR 

400/500. The cartridges are compatible 

with Canon imageRunner Advance 

400i/iF/500i/iF, IR 400i/iF/500i/iF and have a 

page yield of 15,200 in accordance with the 

ISO 19752 standard. 

Secondly wta launched remanufactured 

toner cartridges for use in Canon IR 

1730/1740/1750. The cartridges are 

compatible with Canon IR 1730/i/iF/ 

1740/i/iF/1750/i/iF, imageRunner 1730/i/iF/ 

1740/i/iF/1750/i/iF and have a page yield of 

15.100 in accordance with the ISO 19752 

standard. 

Also launched were remanufactured 

toner cartridges for use in Canon IR 2535/2545 

and Canon IR 4025/4035/4225/4235. The 

cartridges are compatible with Canon IR 

2535/i/2545/i, imageRunner 2535/i/2545/I and 

Canon IR 4025/i/4035/i/4225/i/4235/i, 

Imagerunner Advance 4025/i/4035/i/4225/ 

i/4235/i. The cartridges for Canon IR 

2535/2545 have a page yield of 19,400 and the 

Canon IR 4025/4035/4225/4235 have a page 

yield of 30,200 also in accordance with the ISO 

19752 standard. 

Finally the company launched remanuactured 

cartridges for use in Canon IR 

4045/4051/4245/4251. The cartridges are 

compatible with Canon IR 4045/i/4051/ 

i/4245i/4251/i, IR Advance 4045/i/4051/i/ 

4245i/4251/I and have a page yield of 34,200 

in accordance with the ISO 19752 standard. 

Recently, the company launched: 

remanufactured cartridges for OKI, Xerox 

and Canon refilled ink cartridges Brother 

and HP; remanufactured Xerox cartridges; 

Canon cartridges; remanufactured HP Inc 

and Samsung cartridges; remanufactured 

HP Inc and Kyocera cartridges; 

remanufactured Samsung and Ricoh 

cartridges; and remanufactured Samsung, 

Kyocera and Canon toners. 

Last year, it launched: remanufactured 

Canon toners; remanufactured Konica 

Minolta toners; remanufactured Ricoh 

cartridges; inkjets for the Canon PIXMA IP 

2850; remanufactured cartridges for the 

Colour LaserJet Enterprise M552DN and 

553DN/N/X; a range of Kyocera replacements; 

replacements for OKI printers; Canon and 

Brother replacements; and also released a 

remanufactured Xerox cartridge. 

For more information, visit www.wtasuhl.de 

or www.mygreentoner.de. 


49



EUROPE Armor, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

New products launched by ARMOR 

ARMOR Office Printing has expanded the HP Inc JetIntelligence with six new products compatible with the HP CF410, CF226 and CF287 

series as well as new inkjet cartridges for other HP Inc and Brother machines. 

Since coming on the market, over one million 

HP Jet Intelligence printers have been sold. 

ARMOR Office Printing is supporting this 

commercial success by bringing new 

compatible print consumables to market for 

HP Inc’s printers that use JetIntelligence 

technology. 

Launched in June 2016, the remanufactured 

range of OWA cartridges compatible 

with HP Inc JetIntelligence printers has now 

been expanded with six new products 

compatible with the HP Inc CF410, CF226 and 

CF287 series. The range now has 28 products, 

notably including the CF226, used with the 

HP Inc Pro M402 model, the top-selling 

laser printer in 2016 and the CF400 

series, used with another 

leading HP Inc model, 

the ColorLaserjet 

Pro M277. 

This new range is 

available in standard and 

hi-capacity models. 

The remanufacturer also launched 

compatible cartridges by ARMOR Office 

Printing for the HP 304 XL which are used 

with the all-in-one Inkjet models, the HP 

Deskjet 3720, 3730 and 3732. The range is 

available in cartons, blisters and bi-packs 

(Black + 3 Colours). The ARMOR cartridges 

compatible with the HP 304 XL offer 

integrated ink level control. 


ARMOR Inkjet cartridges compatible with the 

Brother LC 223. The Brother LC 223 cartridges 

can also be used with a wide range of other 

Brother printers: DCP J 4120 DW, J 562 DW, 

MFC-J 1100 Series, 1140 W, 1150 DW, 1170 DW, 

1180 DWT, 4420 DW, 4425 DW, 4620 DW, 4625 

DW, 480 DW, 5320 DW, 5600 Series, 5620 DW, 

5625 DW, 5720 DW, 680 DW, 880 DW. The 

compatible ARMOR cartridges for the LC 223 

series include ink level control and are 

available separately (Black, Cyan, Magenta or 

Yellow) and in multipacks (Black + Colours). 


www.armor-owa.com. 

GLOBAL CIG, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

CIG announces new remanufactured cartridges 

Clover Imaging Group released new remanufactured toner cartridges for use in OKI and Kyocera printers. 

The first new range of remanufactured 

cartridges are the CMYK cartridge models 

compatible with Kyocera ECOSYS 

M 6030cdn, M 6530cdn, P 6130cdn. 

The black cartridge, TK-5140K has a page 

yield of 7,000 pages at 5 percent coverage. 

The TK—5410C, TK—5410M, TK—5410Y 

colour cartridges of the range have a page 

yield of 5,000 at 5 percent coverage. 

The Kyocera Ecosys P6130cdn A4 colour 

laser printer is suitable for the SME 

environment and designed to manage heavy 

workloads. The print speed is fast at 30 ppm 

for both mono and colour, combined with a 

quick first page out in less than seven 

seconds for mono and eight seconds for 

colour. The maximum monthly duty cycle is 

100,000 pages. 


monochrome toner cartridges for OKI B432 

HY and are compatible with OKI B432DN, 

B512DN, MB492dn and MB562dnw. The 

catridges have a page yield of 12,000 at a 5 

percent coverage. 

The OKI B432 A4 mono LED printer with 

a print speed at 40 ppm represents an 

affordable solution for small workgroups. 

The printer has built-in duplex functionality 

for double sided printing and a fast first page 

out in less than 5 seconds. The maximum 

duty cycle is up to 80,000 pages per month. 

CIG also announced remanufactured 

toner cartridges for Kyocera ECOSYS 

M6035/6535 and are compatible with 

Kyocera ECOSYS M6035cidn, ECOSYS 

M6535cidn, ECOSYS P6035cdn. The black 

cartridge has a page yield of 12,000 and the 

CMY cartridges a yield of 10,000 pages – all 

at 5 percent coverage. 

The Kyocera Ecosys P6035cdn A4 colour 

laser printer is suitable for the SME 

environment and designed to manage heavy 

workloads. The print speed is fast at 35 ppm 

for both mono and colour, combined with a 

quick first page out in less than 6.5 seconds 

for mono and 7.5 seconds for colour. The 

maximum monthly duty cycle is 100,000 

pages. This product is part of the Ecosys 

family known for OPCs with a longer 

lifecycle. 




EUROPE Embatex, Turbon, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

Embatex and Turbon launch HP LJ Pro M252 X 

cartridges and more 

The two remanufacturers have launched a wide range of remanufactured cartridges for various OEM applications. 

The first launch saw the remanufacturers 

launch a CMYK set of replacement 

cartridges for HP Color LJ Pro M252 MA 

with a page yield of 2,800 for the black 

cartridge and 2,300 for the coloured 

cartridges. Also two further HP models 

were launched, monochrome cartridges 

for HP LJ Enterprise M506 ST and HP LJ 

Pro M402 ST. The first cartridge has a 

page yield of 9,000 and the latter has a 

page yield of 3,100. 

The companies launched remanufactured 

monochrome cartridges for 

Lexmark MX711 EE with a page yield of 

45,000 and a monochrome cartridge for 

use in Lexmark MS 810de/dn/dtn/n MA 

HC EE with a page yield of 45,000. 

Also announced was a CMYK set for Minolta 

Bizhub C220/280 with a page yield of 29,000 

for the black cartridge and 26,000 for the CMY 

cartridges. 

The OKI range was extended with a 

monochrome cartridge for use in OKI 

B412/B432 MA machines, with a capacity of 

7,000 pages and a monochrome cartridge for 

use in OKI B432/B512 MA HC machines, with 

a capacity of 12,000 pages. 

The Samsung range was extended with a 

CMYK set for Samsung ProXpress 

C3010/C3060. The black cartridge has a page 

yield of 8,000 and the coloured 

cartridges a page yield of 5,000. 

Also launched was a black 

replacement cartridge for Epson 

Workforce WF-3620/7620 with a page 

yield of 350 and a drum unit for 

use in Samsung ProXpress M4025 

printers with a capacity of 30,000 

pages. 

Furthermore monochrome 

cartridges for use in Utax LP 3245 HC, 

Utax LP 3235 HC and Utax LP 3130 

DC machines are now available. The 

monochrome cartridge for use in 

Utax LP 3245 HC has a page yield of 

30,000, cartridges for use in Utax LP 

3235 HC have a page yield of 18,000, 

cartridges for use in Utax LP 3130 DC have a 

capacity of 5,000 and the remanufactured 

monochrome cartridge for the Utax 

CD1325/CD1330 has a page yield of 20,000. 

For more information, visit www.turbon.de 

or www.emstar-net.com. 

EUROPE Katun, Products Catalogue 

Katun launches new Accessory Products 

Catalogue 

The company has launched a new version of its Accessory Products Catalogue online. 

The new English version of the catalogue 

was launched online in June and Katun is 

anticipating they will roll out the 

translated version (starting with French, 

German, Spanish and Italian) over the 

course of the month of July. 

Cornelis Alderlieste, Marketing Director 

EAME commented on the launch: “The 

same high quality standards used in 

developing Katun parts and supplies are 

applied in assembling Katun’s extensive 

service accessories offering. Katun is a key 

source for vacuums, cleaning supplies, 

tools, and other products that are essential 

for service calls and help copier and 

printer service technicians/engineers work 

more efficiently. 

The catalogue itself is an extract from 

Katun’s webshop in PDF format, just to 

give a swift overview of what kind of (new) 

service accessories the company currently 

carry in their offering. All these products 

can be easily ordered through the Katun 

Online Catalogue. 

The new version of the catalogue is the 

latest version of the accessory products 

catalogue, which Katun have been 

providing to their customer base for many 

years. Alderlieste explained: “Katun wants 

to provide a non-stop shop experience. We 

are an authorized distributor for many of 

the brand names technicians trust: Snapon 

® , 3M, Leatherman®, Chicopee® 

and more. Plus, high-quality Katun® 

Performance accessory products offer 

exceptional value and are specially 

designed to meet the specific needs of the 

office equipment industry. Something to 

highlight to the market through our 

special catalogue.” 


www.katun.com. 


51

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Call: 01993 899800 

or email: info@therecycler.com 

marketplace 


marketplace 

To advertise here 

Call: 01993 899800 

or email: info@therecycler.com 

John Marshall 

Graduate of The Royal Institute of Chemistry (GRIC) 

Master of Science - Colloids and Surface Chemistry - 

University of Bristol 

Consultant in toner development 

and production technologies. 

Contact: Jmowries@aol.com 

or +44 (0)7771 788 250 

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advertising spend of up to £50. 

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53

Get in touch with us about news or features at news@therecycler.com 

THE RECYCLER - ISSN 2045-2047 (Print) 

SEPTEMBER 2017 EDITION 

ISSUE 298 PUBLISHED 

18 August 2017 

THE RECYCLER TEAM 

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s.unland@therecycler.com 

+44 1993 899 800 

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news@therecycler.com 

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ISSUE 299: OCTOBER 2017 

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