The Recycler Issue 317

WORLD FOCUS
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EUROPE
HP, Cease and Desist, IP
HP adds France to Cease and
Desist list
The OEM is now targeting French, as well as Italian and Spanish companies,
with a flurry of cease and desist letters.
Ahead of the last Paperworld / Remanexpo
event The Recycler is aware that the OEM
has sent cease and desist letters to several
cartridge remanufacturers and resellers
based in France, Italy and Spain, following
on from similar actions undertaken in
Germany last year. The letters contain a
warning that the resellers and
remanufacturers will face legal action
unless they cease the sale of
remanufactured HP inkjet cartridges that
infringe the OEM patent rights.
In the European Union (EU) Article 30 of
the Treaty of Rome allows the free
movement of goods among Member States
providing the goods were originally placed
on the market by the IP holder (OEM).
Resellers and remanufacturers can process
and sell such remanufactured inkjet
cartridges across the EU because the OEMs
patent rights are exhausted. However, this
is not the case when importing or
remanufacturing non-EU cartridges
because the OEMs patent rights are still
valid because the cartridges were not first
sold on in the EU market.
The IP holder will usually carry out test
purchases to validate their claims ahead of
issuing the cease and desist letters. The
letter is a request to desist from infringing
an IP holders rights and usually includes a
clause requesting you to pay a contract
penalty should you infringe in the future
and will also insist on full disclosure,
compensation and legal costs. Frankfurt
based Seifried IP has published a useful
guide (in English) that can help if you have
received a cease and desist letter.
One inkjet insider who had received a
cease and desist letter last year told The
Recycler that “you have to physically check
the EU part numbers on each cartridge and
it is a good idea to have a clause in your
purchase agreements that you will only
accept and pay for EU regional cartridges,
and you should also have a similar clause in
your sales agreements so everyone in your
chain is covered.” A list of part numbers is
available on the HP website under:
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.
aspx/c05320914.pdf.
In January 2017 HP began regionalising
printers and cartridges to decrease the
impact of counterfeiting and at the same
time have been issuing regular firmware
upgrades that lock out genuine
remanufactured cartridges.
Have you received a letter from HP? If so,
get in touch and let us know.
EUROPE
Auto replenishment, OEM, Consumables
OEMs embrace automatic replenishment
OKI and Canon are among the big names who have adopted an automatic
monitoring system to replenish their customers’ printing supplies, following in
the footsteps of HP’s Instant Ink and Brother’s Refresh service.
Canon USA’s auto replenishment service
uses “advanced printer technology” to
measure its customers’ ink and toner
usage, and then “automatically triggers a
replacement order when your supply
runs low.”
According to Canon, this service offers
free enrolment with no commitment and
can be cancelled at any time. Ink or toner
will automatically be delivered “when you
need it” and the OEM also offers “Free
standard shipping and handling”.
Canon goes on to explain that this
service is “only available at the time of
purchase and for select printers available
on the Official Canon Online Store” – the
full list of eligible devices can be
found here.
Once a consumer has bought and
installed their printer, they can active the
auto replenishment service. There is no
enrolment fee, and consumers merely pay
for the replacement supplies that have
been ordered, explains Canon.
Similarly, OKI has jumped on the
automatic monitoring bandwagon with its
own Smart Managed Page Services and
Smart Support. As CRN reveals, this
automatic monitoring system ensures
that consumables are “automatically
ordered and delivered when needed”, so
that printers are always ready for use and
the “hassle of ordering and maintaining
consumables” is eliminated.
“Smart Support not only reduces
printer downtime for customers, but also
reduces consumables costs and reduces
storage space requirements,” explains
Erik Piepenburg, Manager of MPS
Business Development at OKI. “Partners
who use OKI’s Smart Managed Page
Services benefit from transparent
business planning and can respond
faster and more accurately to their
customers’ needs. This enables them to
move from a pure supplier to a trusted,
long-term partner for their customers
and build sustainable and profitable
customer relationships.”
According to the OEM, its partners can
easily sign up for this program, and
qualified retailers in Germany who “are
not actively participating” can apply for
inclusion “at any time.”
16 THE RECYCLER • ISSUE 317 • APRIL 2019