The Recycler Issue 338

The future of home 

office and remote 

working – will we 

keep on Zooming? 

Will Zoom become the biggest new world 

changing platform like the smartphones did 

10 years ago? Zoltan Matyas looks at the details… 

Starts page 4 

January 2021 

Issue 338 | £10 

Epson loses in the high court 

In the long running dispute between 

Epson and Calidad the Australian High 

Court finds against Epson and affirms the 

first sale doctrine. 

Page 12 

Promising registration status for 

ICGS 2021 

Over 2,000 exhibitors from 63 countries 

have already registered for the International 

Consumer Goods Show in Frankfurt am 

Main from 17 to 20 April 2021. 

Page 16 

CTS expands sales team 

In recent weeks, CTS Toner Supplies 

has welcomed three new members to 

its sales team. 

Page 24 

Ninestar appoints new Caribbean 

distributor, shares CPO feedback 

Ninestar partners with inkbob.com to distribute 

G&G products in the Caribbean region and 

shared feedback from its second CPO. 

Page 25

IN THIS ISSUE 

2 Issue 338 January 2021

EDITORIAL 

Welcome to 2021 

I am writing the editorial on the 8 th 

December, the 40 th anniversary of the 

death of John Lennon and, due to 

Christmas print schedules, 10 days earlier 

than usual. We all know what the last year 

was like, but best summed up as "annus 

horribilis.” Words used by Britain's Queen 

Elizabeth when she addressed her nation 

on Christmas Day 1992 to describe the 

terribly year. 

Let’s keep to the John Lennon theme 

and one of his popular songs was Imagine. 

Imagine a world where reuse is the norm 

and single use is bad, as in socially bad. 

Within Europe the tide is changing. 

A green agenda, sustainability, the right 

to repair are all part of the legislative 

programme. 

Politicians are committing themselves 

and their countries to become carbon 

neutral earlier and earlier. This can only 

be achieved through political will and 

a strong and vibrant circular economy. 

Imagine an office technology market 

where more than half of the hardware and 

consumables sold are from a sustainable 

circular economy. Imagine 

Starting Over is another Lennon song 

and the opening lyrics “It's been too 

long since we took the time…” Well 2020 

certainly gave us the time to reflect on 

our market and for many 2021 means 

starting over as Integral’s Jan Hagemann 

says: “My prediction for 2021 is that the 

market for printing consumables will 

recover quickly.” Something I would agree 

with, but with a caveat that the biggest 

growth sector in 2021 will be upcycled 

and refurbished hardware and subsequent 

sales of remanufactured consumables. 

Within Europe the tide is changing. A green 

agenda, sustainability, the right to repair are all 

part of the legislative programme. 

Why? Because dealers are asking for these 

products, it is not a hard sell at the moment. 

2020 saw some unique collaborations as 

companies worked together to survive and 

▲ Stefanie Unland Editor 

& Publisher, The Recycler 

deliver for customers. This mindset brings 

to mind, in my opinion, Lennon’s best 

song Stand by Me. If we can carry forward 

that sense of collaboration and working 

together into 2021 and beyond, we should 

all have a better year. 

Because it is the 8th December, we really 

don’t know how the Voluntary Agreement 

will pan out, but it is 50/50 it will be 

signed. If it is signed, expect legislation 

to follow so that if the agreement goes 

through it will last three years and 

legislation will be waiting when it ends. 

However, politics is politics and there 

is a strong possibility the agreement will 

be kicked back and will have to include 

substantial reuse targets, something the 

OEMs don’t really want. 

That the markets have changed, brokers 

no argument from me. But the challenge 

for 2021 and beyond is to adapt and 

change your business to meet the new 

reality. That does mean being close to 

your consumer, it does mean being agile 

and flexible, it does mean a modern 

website, an online store and an active 

social media plan. 

And finally, have a safe and prosperous 

2021. Don’t forget to get the vaccine and 

we will hopefully start seeing you again 

face to face, sometime soon. ■ 

Issue 338 

January 2021 3

FEATURE 

The future of home 

office and remote working 

– will we keep on Zooming? 

There is an old proverb I like to use lately: “No crisis should go to waste”. 

If I ask you which digital platform is the biggest winner of the COVID19 

crisis, chances are you will say Zoom. 

▲ Zoltan Matyas, Founder 

of PrintEvery Consulting 

Why it’s not Skype, Go To Meeting or 

even Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp? 

Did they just sleep on this crisis and let 

it go to waste? How did Eric Yuan come 

out of almost nowhere with Zoom and 

knock everyone out in the video chat space? 

What does the growing platform mean for 

the future of home office and the virtual 

workspace? Will Zoom become the biggest 

new world changing platform like the 

smartphones did 10 years ago? 

I will not pretend to predict the future as 

I never do but sometimes it is interesting 

to read the signs. If the 6 moth NASDAQ 

chart looks like this is usually a good sign… 

As a publicly listed business traded on 

Nasdaq, the Zoom’s stock price was 

valued at $87.66 (€72) at the beginning 

of February. Over the next two months, 

this amount practically doubled, hitting 

$169.09 (€142.24) by the end of April and 

today it’s at $427.55 (€365) 

We live in a world where product names 

We can hoover the office and fedex you goods 

and with the digital revolution we are now 

tweeting, googling whatsapping and skyping 

around all day. 

become verbs. We can hoover the office 

and fedex you goods and with the digital 

revolution we are now tweeting, googling 

whatsapping and skyping around all day. 

Will the verb formerly known as skyping 

become zooming? I have the feeling it will. 

In a not so far future we may have to start 

getting used to conversations like this: 

“Shall we go for lunch? No, I can’t! At 1 

o´clock I have to zoom in to work.” 

It was obvious that video apps will peak 

during lock down but now it is over and 

video calls are still part of our everyday 

work life. I personally do more than ever 

before. 

Sales calls, performance review meetings, 

customer meetings all migrated from the 

phone to video calls. It seems that meetings 

with higher importance now deserve a 

video call not just a simple call and people 

are no longer camera shy. 

Within many others I became a big fan 

of Tomas Pueyo during the COVID lock 

down. He is a coronavirus influencer due 

to a series of viral articles he wrote on 

Medium about the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Zoom Share Prices 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 


You can contact The Recycler via Twitter at @RecyclerMedia 

He put out some pretty good thoughtprovoking 

stuff about how the pandemic 

will transform our digital lives forever. 

I recommend following his twitter feed 

and reading his articles in Medium. I 

will mention him later. First Let us try to 

understand how on earth Zoom knocked 

Skype out of the ring so fast. 

It went thru many redesigns to compete 

with trendier apps like Telegram and 

WhatsApp and incorporated features nobody 

asked for. They really tried everything from 

animated emojis to solutions seen at Snapchat 

but the users kept on devaluating the app and 

getting angry with constant updates 

and annoying bugs. 

When Microsoft bought Skype back in 2011 

for 8.5 billion, they had Live Messenger, but 

Skype was simply cool. 

Video chat is not new. We had Skype since 

2003. And there were others like GOOGLE 

HANGOUTS, GOTOMEETING, 

MICROSOFT TEAMS…etc. They all had 

a huge advantage against Zoom and a large 

consolidated user base. Then there are the 

giants like Facebook with the Messenger 

app or WhatsApp or Google with the old 

hangouts app. Even Cisco Webex with huge 

corporate outreach and experience in the 

channel. Yet Zoom came saw and conquered 

just like Julius Caesar in ancient Rome. 

As I mentioned before skyping became 

a verb which just shows popularity and 

consolidation. When Microsoft bought 

Skype back in 2011 for 8.5 billion, they 

had Live Messenger, but Skype was simply 

cool. At the end of 2010, there were over 

660 million worldwide users, with over 300 

million estimated active each month as of 

August 2015. At one point in February 2012, 

there were 34 million users concurrently 

online on Skype. 

But regardless Skype´s numbers are still up: in 

March 2020, Skype was used by 100 million 

people monthly and by 40 million people 

daily. Something has changed forever. Skype 

is stuck with video meetings and its old. 

Skype simply failed to understand the need 

and could not find its place. The audience 

did not want any of that singing dancing 

stuff. Everyone just wanted the good old 

easy to use skype video chat back without 

any more complications. 

On top of that, competition has been 

increasing. Players like Slack entered 

the game which distracted Microsoft 

big time. They started focusing on the 

Teams app aimed to work and corporate 

communications. They integrated video 

chat to teams and with that skype became 

even more of an obsolete tool. 

And then came Zoom. 

Just to put things in context. In 2019 

December there were 10 million video 

chats on Zoom daily. It was used mainly 

by podcasters as sound quality was great. 

It served a niche techie market. In April 

2020 10 million became 300 million. 

Yes daily users… 

According to Datanyze.com the market 

share landscape of technology used for 

video conferencing currently looks 

like this: 

17. – 20. 4. 2021 

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January 2021 5

FEATURE 

Market share of top web conferencing technologies in the United States, as of April 2020 

15.19% 

18.72% 

Zoom - 42.82% 

Adobe Connect - 2.88% 

2.64% 

2.88% 

3.14% 

3.43% 

42.82% 

11.16% 

GoToWebinar - 18.72% 

Cisco WebEx - 11.16% 

ON24 - 3.43% 

GoToMeeting - 3.14% 

TANDBERG Video 

Conferencing - 2.64% 

Other technologies 

- 15.19% 

Market share of the top three web conferencing technologies in Germany 

and the United Kingdom, as of April 2020 

Germany 

United Kingdom 

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

Zoom 

GoToWebinar 

Cisco WebEx 

Source: Statista, Datanyze 

The number of Zoom domains in the United 

States rapidly increased in 2020, reaching over 

15,600 last month, according to Statista data. 

The number of Zoom domains in the 

United States rapidly increased in 2020, 

reaching over 15,600 last month, according 

to Statista data. 

The top three web conferencing platforms 

in the United States hit more than a 70% 

market share as of April, data gathered by 

LearnBonds (https://learnbonds.com/ 

news/top-3-us-web-conferencing-apps-hitover-70-market-share/) 

has revealed. With 

42.8% market share, Zoom ranked as the 

leading web conferencing platform among 

American users. 

I am still not sure how Facebook and its 

messenger app missed out so outrageously 

on this but probably they were tied up with 

fake news issues and privacy concerns. 

Of course, with all popular new 

applications apart of the praising voices 

and happy tech bloggers there were voices 

raised about security issues especially 

sharing sensitive corporate data over Zoom. 

The guys in San Jose California reacted 

quick and decided to provide “end-to-end 

encryption” to all customers not just the 

ones who are paying. 

Will it become a new platform? It certainly 

has the potential. 

Let us go back to the line of thoughts of Mr 

Pueyo and other tech philosophers. They 

all pretty much agree that smartphones 

have fundamentally changed human 

behavior. Smartphones today are not only 

used to communicate but they changed 

how we listen to music, take notes, how we 

choose restaurants and what we do with 

our idle time on the toilet. 

I mean we could always order pizza from 

the computer but now we know where the 

pizza boy at any moment and nobody will 

ever again need to look for a taxi stand. 

Road trip maps sales disappeared and 

unfortunately for our industry nobody 

prints the trip itinerary anymore. Built in 

navigation sales in new cars are down as 

maps on the smartphone are way better 

and no cars are sold without smartphone 

integration. 


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It is very possible that the increasing popularity 

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of things we never seen before. 

It is very possible that the increasing 

popularity of video apps will trigger the 

development of things we never seen before. 

Think of the possibilities of work, 

entertainment, and educational sectors. 

Think of sales, R&D and Project teams 

keeping together once the work video 

meeting is over just to chat around a bit. 

I know fellow sales directors and team 

leaders who have been organizing regular 

daily coffee breaks on Zoom during the lock 

down while everyone was in home office. 

Think of Press conferences, online coaching 

and consulting services and even group 

of friends coming together to have a beer 

after work on Zoom because now they 

can include friends from abroad. 

Right at this second whilst writing this 

article it just occurred to me to set up a 

meeting with my old high school classmates 

back in Hungary for a zoom session. 

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January 2021 7

FEATURE 

Today it is normal that more and more jobs 

only need 3 things. 

1. Your time 

2. Internet access 

3. A device. 

All three can be anywhere and in theory 

geography in terms of work is irrelevant. 

BUT!!! The general view is still that it 

is better that employees are physically 

together in the office. Why? 

The most common reasons I hear are: 

• They can be controlled by the boss 

• It’s easier to deal with issues live and treat 

problems instantly 

• It’s quicker and more efficient to ask for 

advice and hold a spontaneous meeting 

• Motivational conversations 

• Or even just to chat around the good 

old watercooler. 

To understand how a virtual space can 

overtake the physical office we need to 

understand what are the functions that 

need to be solved efficiently digitally. Let 

me list a few things here about an office: 

• Physically separate work life from 

private life 

• The real-life team playing experience 

• Pear to Pear motivation 

• A quick and spontaneous brain storming 

meeting to create flow of ideas 

• Flipchart meetings with drawings which 

became ideas 

• Post its 

• Motivational speeches 

• Instant answers 

• Personal influencing, meta 

communication 

These are normal things in the office but 

not really solved digitally. We do not have 

a great flip chart app and the digitalization 

of handwritten notes are still not seamless. 

When it comes to project management 

movable and replaceable post its on a 

board are great. 

Don’t get me wrong we have applications 

for all of this stuff like Miro (https://miro. 

com/) the on line white board, Trello 

(https://trello.com/ for an excellent 

online Kanban and yes you can digitalise 

hand written notes on pretty much any 

tablet but until all this is getting solved 

by one great easy to use app I will still 

like to go to the office. Okay… well… 

at least two days a week… 

And this is where the opportunity lies 

for Zoom who already announced that 

the app will become a platform. This will 

allow other applications to be integrated. 

The new applications will further 

strengthen Zoom. 

Think of what the Appstore did with 

smartphones. The logic behind Steve Jobs 

masterplan was fairly simple: the greater 

number of high-quality apps are available 

the more people will think they need a 

smartphone. 

On May 8 th at 12pm PST Zoom held the 

Live finale of its app marketplace contest 

where the task was to develop apps to help 

Zoom users. Out of more than 600 apps 

10 made it to the final fighting for a chance 

to win $2million in funding and finally 

Docket won with an app that makes office 

environment online with shared calendars, 

notebooks archives…etc 

If you are a venture capital investor 

you can read more on this here: https:// 

blog.zoom.us/announcing-the-zoom-appmarketplace-competition-finalists/ 

and 

here: https://blog.zoom.us/docket-zoom-appmarketplace-competition-winner/ 

and here: 

https://www.dockethq.com/calendar-app/ 

Now if you look at the 10 finalists, 

they are all existing apps but who 

wants to work in 10 different app 

environments at work? Imagine if all 

this is available within an online 

virtual and immersive workplace 

experience. 

And we are still only talking about how 

Zoom can change the new way we work. 

Next step could be how we play. What if 

games become available on the platform? 

Gamification of work-related tasks are 

an emerging trend. What if developers 

Imagine if all this is available within an online 

virtual and immersive workplace experience. 

start attacking the hundred years old 

educational system? The more developers 

on board the stronger a platform like 

Zoom can become. 

But all this doesn’t really matter since 

the robots are coming and will take over 

anything. 

Happy holidays everyone! ■ 

Zoltan Matyas 

Zoltan Matyas is a Digital Marketing 

and Sales specialist in the independent 

imaging industry with over 15 years 

of front-line sales experience. He is 

a regular contributor in industry 

publications and speaker at industry 

events. 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

You can connect with him on 

LinkedIn or email him at zoltan@ 

printevery.com. 




January 2021 9

IN THIS ISSUE 

On the cover 

The future of home office and remote working 

– will we keep on Zooming? 

Industry Leaders Q&A 

36 

We look to 2021… 

04 

38 

Editorial 

3 Welcome to 2021 

Feature 

4 The future of home office and 

remote working – will we keep on 

Zooming? 

World Focus 

12 Epson loses in the high court 

• USITC issues GEO to Brother 

13 ICCE reports success from 

Africa raids 

14 Canon reviews Amazon 

takedown numbers 

16 Promising registration status 

for ICGS 2021 

18 HP Inc, back in court with a class 

action suite, more firmware alerts 

City News 

20 OEM share prices December 

2020 • Asolvi acquires TIVAPP 

in Germany 

21 Ninestar releases third quarter 

results • ECI Software Solutions 

to be acquired 

22 HP Inc. printing revenue down 

• Ricoh announces H12020 

results • Brother releases second 

quarter results 

Around the Industry 

24 Biuromax expands in Greece and 

Hungary • CTS expands sales team 

• Chris Mills joins Data Direct 

25 Ninestar appoints new Caribbean 

distributor, shares CPO feedback 

• Cartridge Save hits £9 million 

sales 

26 Aster Technology UK partners 

with ECI • Susan Simkiss joins 

Print-Rite Europe and PRPS 

27 Katun strengthens partnership 

with ECi 

28 HYB honours global partners and 

goes on team building experience 

29 Lightwords adds new Japanese 

partner • CET Group Russia 

receives award 

30 Mali Servis opens new facility 

• Knight Office Solutions 

celebrates 30 th anniversary 

31 PrintReleaf announces latest 

partnership 

Feature 

32 Doing business in Europe? 

34 Blue Angel 

Inside Track 

36 Industry Leaders Q&A 

Feature 

38 We look to 2021… 

Products & Technology 

40 GM Technology releases Kyocera 

“GEN” range • IR Italiana 

Riprografia adds to waste toner 

box range 

41 Be Selective: G&G rolls-out G&G 

Select range • Mito announces new 

colour toner kits 

42 Biuromax launches new range of 

products • Chipjet introduces the 

ChipStation 

43 HYB announces latest replacement 

cartridges • ECS adds new 

developer packs to product range 


GOGREEN! 

REACH 

READY 

20 

05/20 


January 2021 11

WORLD FOCUS 

AUSTRALASIA Seiko, Epson, Calidad, IP, Australia 

Epson loses in the high court 

In the long running dispute between Epson and Calidad the Australian High Court finds against Epson and affirms the 

first sale doctrine. 

The Australian High Court has allowed an 

appeal from Calidad concerning the scope 

of a patentee's (Epson) exclusive statutory 

rights to exploit an invention which is a 

product, and whether modifications made 

to a product to enable its re-use amounted to 

a making of a new product and infringed the 

patentee's exclusive rights on that basis. 

Ninestar collects empty used Epson 

cartridges a number of sources and modifies 

them to be refilled and re-used. Calidad 

acquired the modified cartridges from 

Ninestar and import them into Australia for 

sale to the public. 

Seiko Epson claimed commenced 

proceedings alleging that Calidad had 

infringed their rights as patentee. In the first 

action the primary judge found that the 

modifications made to certain categories 

of the original Epson cartridges were 

such as to extinguish any implied licence. 

On appeal the Full Court of the Federal 

Court, in separate judgments, found that 

in none of the categories of the original 

Epson cartridges were the modifications 

authorised by any implied licence, and that 

the modifications to the original Epson 

cartridges constituted a making of a new 

embodiment of the invention claimed 

in the patents. 

Calidad appealed from the Full Court's 

decision and asked that the High Court 

hold that, in cases of this kind, a doctrine 

that a patentee's monopoly rights of use and 

sale with respect to a product arising from 

statute are exhausted upon the first sale of 

that product (the "exhaustion doctrine") 

should be applied instead of the implied 

licence doctrine. 

Allowing the appeal, a majority of the 

High Court found that the modifications 

to the original Epson cartridges did not 

amount to an impermissible making of 

a new product and that the exhaustion 

doctrine should be accepted. 

The refilled and restored cartridges were 

merely modified versions of the products 

sold by Seiko. The modifications were 

within the scope of the rights of an owner 

to prolong the life of a product and make it 

more useful. 

Costs were awarded against Seiko Epson. 

Editors Opinion: Congratulations to 

Calidad on the successful outcome of years 

of litigation. This ruling aligns strongly with 

US and European rulings and endorsed the 

first sale doctrine. ■ 

You can read the full 

judgement by scanning 

the QR code. 

NORTH AMERICA Brother, USITC, GEO, Cease & Desist Orders 

USITC issues GEO to Brother 

Brother announced the issuance of General Exclusion Order (GEO) in ITC investigation No. 337-TA-1174 

On 23 November 2020, the U.S. 

International Trade Commission 

(USITC) issued a final determination, 

a general exclusion order, and twenty 

cease-and-desist orders in Certain Toner 

Cartridges, Components Thereof, and 

Systems Containing Same, ITC Inv. No. 

337-TA-1174. 

The final determination confirms 

Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") Clark 

S. Cheney's finding that thirty entities 

violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act 

of 1930, as amended (19 C.F.R. § 1337), 

based on their importation into the 

United States, sale for importation, and/ 

or sale within the United States after 

importation of toner cartridges and 

components thereof that infringe certain 

of Brother's patents. 

The ITC determined not to review 

ALJ Cheney's findings that Brother's 

claims were established by substantial, 

reliable, and probative evidence, including 

Brother's claim that an exclusion 

order limited to just the products of 

the named respondents would likely 

be circumvented, and that there is a 

widespread pattern of violation of Section 

337 with regard to the accused toner 

cartridges. These findings derived from 

a complaint that Brother filed on August 

19, 2019, and the investigation that was 

instituted on 23 September 2019, based 

on that complaint. 

Brother said it is pleased that the ITC 

left ALJ Cheney's findings intact and 

issued a general exclusion order and 

cease-and-desist orders. These orders 

will become final on 22 January 2021, 

after a 60-day Presidential review period. 

Meanwhile, Brother said it remains 

committed to protecting its intellectual 

property and investments made in 

providing its customers with superior and 

reliable toner technology. ■ 


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

EMEA ICCE, Cartridges, Seizures, Counterfeits, East Africa 

ICCE reports success from Africa raids 

Cooperation between The Imaging Consumables Coalition of Europe, Middle East and Africa (ICCE) and local law 

enforcement agencies in East Africa are meeting with success in the battle to remove counterfeit goods from local 

markets, which impacts local economies. 

According to the ICCE organised 

criminal gangs use ports of entry along 

the East African coast to bring counterfeit 

products and fake packaging and labels 

onto the continent. Once in Africa, 

they are assembled in so-called product 

completion centres (PCC), which are often 

hidden in residential areas of cities, such 

as Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. In PCCs, 

people work for low pay in poor conditions 

and with little regard or no regard to health 

and safety. 

However, printer manufacturers are 

joining forces with law enforcement 

agencies to fight back against the organised 

criminal gangs that operate PCCs and 

supply counterfeit imaging supplies 

locally. ICCE members HP Inc and 

Canon are using the EPIC range of tactics 

– Enforcement, Prevention, Intelligence, 

Communication – to remove fake goods 

from the market and bring criminals to 

account. 

ICCE explained that the most important 

weapon in the OEMs’ armoury is the 

close relationship they have built with law 

enforcement agencies in countries in the 

region. As a result, HP Inc has increased 

its rate of product seizures by four times in 

East Africa over the past four years, leading 

to successful actions in Tanzanian courts. 

Paul Williamson, Regional Investigations 

Manager (Europe, Middle East and 

Africa) for HP’s Anti-Counterfeit 

Programme, deals with between five and 

eight investigations a week in this region, 

resulting in up to three enforcements 

a week on shops and PCCs containing 

counterfeit HP supplies. 

“Counterfeit criminal activity is not 

good for the African economy and we’re 

helping to limit it. We’re doing a lot of 

work in Tanzania working in partnership 

with the law enforcement authorities,” 

Williamson said. 

A case often starts with research by 

investigators, who work for a local 

investigation team. Sometimes working 

from a tip-off, they visit shops displaying 

what they suspect are counterfeit goods, 

usually indicated by low prices, and 

commence an investigation. 

When sufficient evidence is collected, the 

investigator, often in conjunction with HP, 

Canon or other brands, applies to the Fair 

Competition Commission for a warrant 

to raid the premises. The investigators 

accompany FCC agents to the location and 

identify the counterfeit products. If they 

discover a PCC they will also usually find 

and seize flatpack boxes and labels. The 

next stage is a court case which can result 

in the destruction of counterfeit products 

and a fine for the counterfeiter. 

A recent raid on a retail store and 

associated PCC in Dar Es Salaam led to 

agents seizing 2,000 finished counterfeit 

toner cartridges. The shop was closed 

down and the case is going through 

the courts. In 2020 HP has seized 

approximately 90,000 counterfeit 

HP cartridges, plus component parts, 

in Tanzania. 

“We have very good relations with the 

FCC,” said Williamson. “Whenever 

we run training, we invite the head 

of the FCC and other law enforcement 

agencies along, which really increases 

understanding between us. We appreciate 

the close level of cooperation and open 

lines of communication with local 

agencies. Without their assistance 

we couldn’t operate so effectively 

in Tanzania.” 

Williamson also works closely with fellow 

ICCE member Canon, often mounting 

joint operations. 

During the first half of 2020 raids on 

PCCs around Dar Es Salaam for Canon 

resulted in the seizure of around 50,000 

toners, cartridges and flat pack boxes with 

stencils. Canon’s IP Enforcement Specialist 

said: “We believe in supporting the law 

enforcement agencies to stop this illegal 

activity, which is linked to organised crime. 

We work through our local investigators 

with local law enforcement agencies such 

as the FCC and we’re very happy with the 

level of cooperation we’ve established.” 

She also believes that cooperation 

between brands through organisations 

like ICCE is key to tackling the counterfeit 

gangs: “With a counterfeit operation 

it’s usually not just one brand being 

infringed, so it’s extremely rewarding to 

work collaboratively with others so more 

than one brand can benefit from shared 

activities.” ■ 


January 2021 13

WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL Amazon Removals, Canon, IP, Counterfeits, Take Downs 

Canon reviews Amazon takedown numbers 

The OEM has reported results of its third quarter removal request activity on Amazon in major markets. 

Canon Inc. announced that in about 

the third quarter of 2020, it has used the 

Amazon Reporting Tool and/or letters 

of inquiry to successfully remove 12 

listings from Amazon in Australia. Since 

September 2019, the total number of 

listings removed is 179. The listings offered 

third-party laser toner cartridges which 

Canon believes infringed one or more of 

Australian Patent Nos. 2014208277 and 

2007205464. 

Canon also announced that in the third 

quarter of 2020, it has used the Amazon 

Reporting Tool, letters of inquiry and/ 

or information letters to successfully 

remove 2,762 listings from Amazon 

in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United 

Kingdom and France. Since June 2018, 

the total number of listings removed from 

Amazon in Germany, Italy, Spain, the 

United Kingdom, France and Turkey is 

9,170. The listings offered third-party 

laser toner cartridges from vendors which 

Canon believes infringed one or more 

of European Patent No. 2 087 407 and 

European Patent No. 1 977 289. 

Country 

Number of removed listings 

Germany 909 

Italy 456 

Spain 461 

United Kingdom 499 

France 437 

Furthermore, Canon announced that 

in the third quarter of 2020, it has used 

Amazon takedown procedures to report 

infringement based on 305 listings, all 

of which now have been removed from 

Amazon in Canada and the United States 

of America. Since June 2018, the total 

number of listings removed from Amazon 

in Canada, Mexico and the United States 

of America is 2,166. 

The listings offered third-party laser 

toner cartridges from vendors which 

Canon believes infringed one or more of 

U.S. Patent No. 8,280,278, U.S. Patent 

No. 8,630,564, U.S. Patent No. 8,682,215, 

U.S. Patent No. 8,688,008, U.S. Patent 

No. 8,676,090, U.S. Patent No. 8,588,646, 

U.S. Pat. No. 9,581,958, Canadian Patent 

No. 2,635,791, Canadian Patent No. 

2,910,527, Mexican Patent No. 308881 and 

Mexican Patent No. 317598. 

All throughout the month, Canon 

continued to request more removals. In 

Canada, Canon filed infringement reports 

with Amazon.ca seeking the removal of 

an Amazon.ca listing for certain toner 

cartridges sold by LYUSD, by First Print, 

by Ink Toner 4 You and by Zulu Inks. 

In Australia, Canon filed a 

Report Infringement Form with 

Amazon Australia based on the 

alleged infringement of claim 160 of 

Canon's Australian Patent Number 

AU2014208277 regarding the cartridge 

model CF226A offered by NK STORE 

AU under the ASIN (Amazon Standard 

Identification Number) B0788JC694. 

The OEM also requested removal of toner 

cartridges offered by NES Printer Supplies 

& Services from Amazon Australia. 

Canon announced that it had filed 

Report Infringement Forms with 

Amazon.de and Amazon.it based on 

the alleged use of claims 1 and 2 of the 

German and Italian portion of Canon's 

European Patent EP 1 977 289 ("EP 

'289") regarding certain models of toner 

cartridges offered by LOSMANN GMBH. 

In Germany, Canon filed Report 

Infringement Forms with Amazon. 

de seeking removal of Amazon.de 

listings for certain toner cartridges sold 

by TT Recycling GmBH and MWT 

Mehrwegtoner UG. 

Canon also announced the filing of an 

infringement report with Amazon.mx 

seeking the removal of Amazon.mx listings 

for certain toner cartridges sold by Amaze 

Brands for use in HP laser beam printers. 

In the USA, Canon announced the filing 

of an infringement report with Amazon. 

com seeking the removal of Amazon.com 

listings for certain toner cartridges sold 

by Partsmart for use in HP laser beam 

printers. The OEM also announced the 

request for removal of toner cartridges 

offered by MORECOLORFUL from 

Amazon USA. 

Filing a Report Infringement Form 

with Amazon is a service offered by 

Amazon and doesn't comprise any official 

finding of validity or infringement 

of a patent. The decision to take down 

a product is in the discretion of Amazon 

and is based on information provided 

by Canon. ■ 



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January 2021 15

WORLD FOCUS 

EUROPE ICGS 2021, Events, Face-to-Face, Frankfurt, Remanexpo 

Promising registration 

status for ICGS 2021 

Over 2,000 exhibitors from 63 countries have already registered 

for the International Consumer Goods Show in Frankfurt am 

Main from 17 to 20 April 2021. 

The trade fair 2021 will be unique 

in many respects and therefore not 

comparable with a usual Ambiente, 

Christmasworld or Paperworld. The 

International Consumer Goods Show is a 

unique combination of the product groups 

of the Ambiente, Christmasworld and 

Paperworld trade fairs in the exceptional 

situation of the global pandemic. The 

Digital Days will also host a dedicated 

Remcon Seminars stream. 

Almost the entire western part of the 

exhibition grounds will be occupied 

in new layout of Halls 8 to 12, 

supplemented by the Digital Days, where 

the purely digital content of Creativeworld 

will also be on display. 

"Most important for us is that we make 

business meetings possible again in the 

first half of the year and are a reliable 

partner for our customers. Thanks to our 

comprehensive safety concept, the real 

exchange, which cannot be replaced by 

anything else, is possible at any time on 

site at the exhibition centre. The Digital 

Days provide a complementary virtual 

exchange with award-winning technology 

that uses artificial intelligence to precisely 

dovetail supply and demand," emphasized 

Nicolette Naumann, Vice President 

Ambiente, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition 

GmbH. The new, hybrid concept enables 

international visitors to meet existing and 

new customers, get inspired and place 

orders, both in Frankfurt and from their 

workplace or home office. 

"We are very pleased that over 2,000 

exhibitors from 63 countries are breaking 

new ground with us. Digital trade fair 

supplements will remain in the future. 

In our view, this is the best answer to the 

current challenges," added Naumann. 

In 2022, however, the events will again 

be separated and take place in the usual 

order cycle. 

The International Consumer Goods 

Show covers the product segments 

of Ambiente, Christmasworld and 

Paperworld, which will be newly planned 

in Halls 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. 

The almost fully booked-up western 

section of the fair presents furnishing and 

decorative accessories, living concepts, 

gifts and jewellery/fashionable accessories, 

products for the table, kitchen and 

household as well as festive and seasonal 

decorations, paper, stationery and office 

supplies, handicrafts and artists' supplies. 

This addresses a very broad group of buyers 

from the consumer goods industry - from 

volume buyers to small retailers, importers 

and commercial end users. 

Special times require clever measures: The 

Digital Days will take place parallel to the 

physical trade fair and offer even broader 

networking for all industry participants 

from around the world - including those 

who will not be able to travel to the 

event in April 2021 due to possible travel 

restrictions. 

"Thus, the International Consumer 

Goods Show 2021 offers the best of 

both worlds: The irreplaceable live trade 

show experience on site and an online 

matchmaking and networking platform 

that primarily drives new customer 

business. We are thus enhancing the 

function of a trade fair. In addition to the 

event at the Frankfurt exhibition grounds, 

the Digital Days in the virtual space will 

create opportunities to generate leads, 

make direct contact with customers and 

significantly increase the reach of our 

corporate presence," said Julia Uherek, 

Group Show Director Consumer Goods 

Fairs, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH. 

All participants benefit from new 

additional digital features for interaction 

and networking. Based on the three pillars 

Matchmaking (for new contacts and 

meetings), Live-Stream (for knowledge 

transfer and inspiration) and the order 

platform Nextrade, visitors have the 

opportunity - parallel to the face-to-face 

event - to network, be inspired and 

order directly. 

The live streaming makes the framework 

and conference program a digital 

experience. Four live streams are available 

for this purpose: 

1. The first stream reflects the fringe 

program of the physical trade show, 

via the Academy stage with expert 

contributions, panel discussions 

or guided tours on trends. This is 

broadcast live in the stream directly 

from the event. 

2. The second stream explicitly stands 

for Creativeworld, which will be 

completely suspended as a physical 

event this year, but will have a high 

presence at the Digital Days. From a 

separate studio, you will find the "latest 

insights" on materials, techniques and 

tools, exciting speakers and lectures. 

3. The third stream focuses on 

special interests such as the topic 

of sustainability or the Remcon 

Seminars with current topics from 

the remanfuacturing industry with 

lectures, panels and discussions. 

4. The fourth stream is exclusively 

available for exhibitors - for their 

own product presentation, for 

exhibitor panels and seminars or press 

conferences. Exhibitors can translate 

what takes place at the physical trade 

fair as events at their stand into digital 

form here. For this purpose, a dedicated 

web studio is available at the Messe 

Frankfurt exhibition grounds, where 

exhibitors can rent a studio. Or they can 

broadcast directly from their company 

headquarters or another studio. 

On the basis of the exhibitor's company 

profiles maintained online and the buyer's 

interest queries during ticketing, AIsupported 

matchmaking independently 

networks with suitable business partners 

from all over the world, thereby pushing 

new, potentially interesting contacts 

around the clock. If there is a match, 

exhibitors and visitors can enter into direct 

contact via chat functions or face-to-face 

calls. Or they can use the digital Speed 

Networking feature to quickly make new 

contacts. 



Using the digital order and data 

management platform Nextrade, buyers 

can order directly from exhibitors - 

just like at the trade fair. At Nextrade, 

suppliers and their products are present 

around the world 365 days a year, around 

the clock, and can thus activate inquiries 

and orders from dealers at any time at 

individual conditions. Dealers have 

access to all necessary up-to-date data 

such as pictures, price lists and product 

texts. This opens up completely new sales 

and distribution channels for exhibitors, 

especially abroad. The B2B marketplace 

Nextrade is the first order and data 

management platform for the home & 

living industry that has been bringing 

together supply and demand digitally for 

a year now - and thus creates great added 

value for both sides. 

The best thing about the digital 

additions is that there are no restrictions 

due to trade fair opening times - 

exhibitors and buyers can thus be reached 

before the trade fair, during the trade fair 

days and even afterwards, and are able 

to actively generate leads. For example, 

physical visitors can initially concentrate 

on their visit to the trade fair and then 

follow interesting live streams, find 

additional business partners and place 

their orders. 

Two to three pre-events before the event 

will familiarise participants with the new 

technology so that they can get started 

right away on April 17. "So everyone 

can try out what the virtual trade fair 

experience feels like and how it can best be 

combined with a real trade fair visit. There 

is a lot of potential here and we are very 

proud that we can realize this and make it a 

real experience with the Digital Days. With 

our digital offerings that complement the 

physical trade shows, we want to be the 

best partner for our customers for business 

encounters," summarised Uherek. 

With their ticket for the International 

Consumer Goods Show, visitors also 

receive full access to the Digital Days. 

The International Consumer 

Goods Show and the 

Digital Days will take place 

in Frankfurt am Main 

from April 17 - 20, 2021. ■ 

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January 2021 17

WORLD FOCUS 

GLOBAL HP Inc, Class Action, SEC, Firmware Update 

HP Inc, back in court with a class action suite, 

more firmware alerts 

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants misrepresented HP’s business and financial condition 

by issuing false and misleading statements regarding HP’s financial performance. 

The class action is on behalf of 

an institutional investor seeking to 

represent purchasers of HP Inc. common 

stock between November 6, 2015 and 

June 21, 2016. The action was filed in 

the Northern District of California and 

is captioned York County on behalf of 

the County of York Retirement Fund v. 

HP Inc., No. 20-cv-7835. 

The HP class action lawsuit charges HP 

and certain of its former officers with 

violations of the Securities Exchange 

Act of 1934. The complaint alleges that 

during the Class Period, defendants 

misrepresented HP’s business and 

financial condition by issuing false and 

misleading statements regarding HP’s 

financial performance and, in particular, 

its revenue, profit margin, and earnings. 

Specifically, defendants provided 

positive financial results for HP, but 

misrepresented and omitted to state 

that HP’s Supplies channel inventory 

management and sales practices had 

resulted in increased channel inventory 

and decreased revenues and profits. As 

a result of defendants’ false statements 

and omissions, the price of HP stock was 

artificially inflated to a high of more 

than $14 per share during the 

Class Period. 

Then on June 21, 2016, HP announced 

an overhaul to its Printing sales model 

and revealed that it would reduce its 

Supplies channel inventory by $450 

million, resulting in a corresponding 

reduction of $450 million in Supplies 

revenue over the remainder of 2016. 

Following this announcement, the price 

of HP stock declined 5.4% to close at 

$12.61 per share on June 22, 2016. 

On October 1, The Recycler 

reported that the Securities Exchange 

Commission (SEC) imposed US$6 

million (€5.11 million) penalty on 

HP for undisclosed sales practices to 

settle charges levied by the SEC that the 

company misled investors by failing to 

disclose the impact of sales practices. 

HP agreed to pay the penalty without 

admitting or denying the SEC‘s findings. 

The plaintiff is represented by Robbins 

Geller of Robbins Geller Rudman & 

Dowd LLP. 

The Recycler has learned that HP has 

issued another firmware update on 28 

October, which seems to be locking 

out third party cartridges with the 

latest chips. 

The Recycler was contacted with the 

information that HP has issued another 

firmware update that effects third party 

replacement cartridges for printers using 

903XL cartridges. The latest firmware 

number is MPC2CN2042CR and seems 

to lock out cartridges using the latest 

chips. 

After testing it was confirmed this was 

printers using the 903XL cartridges only 

and not printers using 953XL cartridges, 

which seem to continue to work at the 

moment. Previously HP’s firmware 

updates blocked out cartridges on both 

printer model series at the same time. 

To check your current firmware status, 

print a status page from the LCD screen 

menu, this can be found in reports. this 

will have the firmware version on it. 

To turn off automatic firmware 

updates: 

• Click “Setup” on printer screen (this 

looks like a cog or wheel) 

• Click on “Printer Maintenance” 

• Click on “Update the Printer” 

• Click on “Printer Update Options” 

• Click on “Do Not Check” 

You then need to select “No” on the 

question that pops up. 

If you clicked yes on the last message, 

it would discard the change. 

Tradesupply soon after issued a new 

firmware warning to customers about 

printers using HP CF540 & CF530 

series cartridges. 

The company wrote to its customers 

to make them aware that HP has released 

a new firmware update for its Color 

Laserjet Pro254dw, M280, M281, M153, 

M154, M180, M181, M254, M153, 

M154, M180, M181 series printers 

which might affect the use of third 

party cartridges. ■ 



. 


January 2021 19

CITY NEWS 

OEM share prices 

December 2020 

Share Prices 

Prices correct as of 1 st December 2020 

EUROPE Asolvi, Acquisition, Germany 

Company NOVEMBER DECEMBER 

Brother Industries (Yen) ¥ 1704 2062 

Canon (Yen) ¥ 1790 1945 

Dainippon Ink & Chemicals (Yen) 

Sun Chemicals parent company 

¥ 2580 2659 

HP Inc. (US$) $ 19.25 22.38 

Hubei Dinglong (RMB) ¥ 15.94 17.3 

Jadi (MYR) M 0.12 0.12 

LG Chem (S Korean Won) W 734k 841k 

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. 

(Yen) Panasonic parent company 

¥ 1018 1153 

Mitsubishi Chemicals (Yen) ¥ 566.8 601.8 

Ninestar Corporation (RMB) 

Formerly Apex Microelectronics 

¥ 30.51 30.7 

Oki (Yen) ¥ 960 924 

Seiko Epson (Yen) ¥ 1339 1625 

Turbon AG (Euro) € 2.34 2.14 

Xerox (US$) $ 19.82 22.16 

UK Waste Prices 

price per tonne 

Aluminium € 8.31 4.96 

Plastic € 11.96 5.86 

Paper € 1.93 0.82 

Currency 

€/US$ 1.19 1.21 

€/£ 0.9 0.91 

£/US$ 1.32 1.33 

£/€ 1.11 1.1 

Oil Price 

Crude oil - (US$) 'Brent Crude 

futures, 1-Pos IPE close' per barrel* 

Shipping Prices 

Europe 

(Hamburg/Antwerp/Felixstowe 

/Le Havre) 

Mediterranean 

(Barcelona/ Valencia/Genoa/Naples) 

USWC 

(Los Angeles/Long Beach/Oakland) 

USEC 

(New York/ Savannah /Norfolk 

/Charleston) 

$ 43.07 47.25 

$ 1246 2091 

$ 1365 2219 

$ 3871 3880 

$ 4665 4708 

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

packagingnews.co.uk *Brent Crude price is for November 2020 

Asolvi acquires 

TIVAPP in Germany 

Asolvi, a European provider of field service and contract 

management software, announced that it has agreed to 

acquire TIVAPP, a German field service solution for the 

fire protection and security sector. 

TIVAPP is a specialist 

service, inventory, test 

documentation and 

billing software solution, 

developed by fire prevention 

professionals. Founded in 

Germany, the company has 

over 20 years of experience in 

the sector. 

The deal will see the 

TIVAPP team of Fire and 

Security experts joining 

Asolvi. This team, in 

combination with TIVAPP’s 

software, will strengthen 

Asolvi’s position across the 

DACH market and enhance 

its native-language customer 

support. It will also expand 

existing sales functions across 

the region, positioning Asolvi 

for further sustainable growth, 

the company explained. This 

is the sixth acquisition since 

2016. 

Commenting on the 

transaction, Pål M. Rødseth, 

CEO of Asolvi, said: “We are 

thrilled to welcome TIVAPP 

into the Asolvi family. We are 

already the leading provider 

of Alarm, Fire and Security 

service management solutions 

in the UK and Sweden, 

TIVAPP fits perfectly into 

our core strategy of expanding 

our German and Central 

European offering. 

TIVAPP’s native-language 

expertise and experience will 

be of central importance 

as we aggressively pursue 

opportunities across 

the region, which will 

consequently allow Asolvi 

to add size to developments 

and meet even further 

demands of customers in the 

very near future. TIVAPP’s 

acquisition represents a superb 

opportunity for the company’s 

existing management and to 

our staff, and we look forward 

to working closely alongside 

them as we pursue our 

common aims and objectives 

and advance into the future.” 

Harry Liedtke, CEO of 

TIVAPP, added: “Joining with 

Asolvi makes huge sense for 

us. Combining our expertise 

will allow us to build market 

share and add resources at a 

much faster pace. It's with 

great excitement that we 

enter this new phase, joining 

one of Europe's leading field 

service management software 

companies. I am thrilled to be 

continuing TIVAPP’s journey 

under the Asolvi umbrella and 

seeing the benefits this will 

bring to our organisation and 

our employees.” 

Financial terms of the deal 

were not disclosed, Mayer 

Brown and Deloitte acted as 

advisors to Asolvi. ■ 



ASIA Ninestar, Financials, Business 

Ninestar releases 

third quarter results 

The company has released its third quarter financial results 

recording a slight year-on-year decrease in revenues. 

For the period, Ninestar recorded operating 

income of RMB 5.013 billion ($749 million/ 

€642 million). For the full nine month period 

to date, total operating income has been 

RMB 14.901 billion ($2.23 billion/ €1.91 

billion), a year-on-year decrease of 11.43%. 

Net profit for the third quarter was RMB 

56.11 million ($8.39 million/ €7.19 million). 

For the nine month period net profit 

accumulates to RMB 415.02 million ($62 

million/ €53 million), a year-on-year decrease 

of 41.01%. 

In august, the company said that gradually 

normal production capacity resumed from 

March, with continuous innovation in toner 

cartridge shipments from April to May. Since 

May, the shipment volume of ink cartridges 

has continuously exceeded 10 million, 

achieving a record high. In the first half of 

the year, the company actively expanded 

overseas online sales by more than 40% over 

the same period last year. 

In terms of products: the sales of 

remanufactured toner cartridges and 

remanufactured ink cartridges increased by 

more than 50% year-on-year in the period 

January to August 2020. ■ 

NORTH AMERICA ECI Software Solutions, Acquisition, ERP Software 

ECI Software Solutions to be acquired 

ECI Software Solutions (ECI) announced that Leonard Green & Partners (LGP) will acquire a majority stake in the 

company from funds advised by Apax Partners and The Carlyle Group. 

ECI is a provider of Enterprise Resource 

Planning (ERP) solutions, such as accounting, 

purchasing, warehousing and inventory 

management, to more than 22,000 customers 

globally. Under the Apax Funds’ and Carlyle’s 

ownership, ECI has experienced rapid growth 

both organically and through strategic M&A. 

Since 2017, ECI has made 15 acquisitions, 

helping it gain significant market share and 

scale internationally, with sizable transactions 

in Europe and Australia consolidating its 

presence in those regions. 

"The ECI team and I have had a powerful 

partnership with Apax and Carlyle as we have 

built the company into a leading SaaS business 

software solutions and services provider," 

said Ron Books, ECI's Chief Executive 

Officer. "They have been instrumental in the 

tremendous growth of our company, and we 

are proud of what we accomplished together. 

We are excited to welcome LGP as our new 

partner, and I am confident that this is the 

right choice for our future – and the future of 

our 1,700 employees and more than 22,000 

customers." 

Usama Cortas, Partner at LGP, said: “We are 

delighted to be partnering with a missiondriven 

company like ECI, which is focused 

on supporting the activities and growth of 

small to medium-sized businesses around 

the world. We invest in companies that win 

with people, have a differentiated culture 

and are market leaders with multiple ways 

to grow – and ECI is the perfect example. 

ECI has built an incredible track record of 

success, and we are excited to be partnering 

with ECI Management and Apax to support 

and accelerate the next phase of the company’s 

growth.” 

Jason Wright, Partner at Apax Partners, 

said: “We have been proud to partner with 

Ron Books and the ECI management 

team over the past three years as they have 

executed their plan and transformed the 

Company through investment in products, 

international expansion and the completion 

of 15 acquisitions. Importantly, Ron and the 

team have instilled a unique culture that is 

customer-centric and employee-friendly. We’re 

excited about the opportunity to partner with 

LGP during this next phase of ECI’s growth.” 

Steve Bailey, Managing Director at Carlyle, 

said: “It has been a tremendous journey with 

Ron and the ECI team and Apax over the 

years. Carlyle’s strategy is to focus on vertical 

market SaaS investments or successfully 

transition software businesses to a SaaS 

model. Our partnership with ECI is a great 

example of the latter. Through embracing the 

opportunity in SaaS, ECI has accelerated its 

growth while also benefiting from strategic 

acquisitions. We wish the team every success 

for the future.” 

Upon completion of the transaction, funds 

advised by Apax Partners, which acquired 

ECI in 2017, will retain a minority stake in 

ECI. 

BofA Securities is acting as lead financial 

advisor, Barclays as financial advisor, and 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom as legal 

advisor to Apax Partners and ECI. Latham & 

Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor to LGP. 

Financial terms of the transaction were not 

disclosed. ■ 


January 2021 21

CITY NEWS 

GLOBAL HP Inc., Financials, 

Business, OEMs 

GLOBAL Ricoh, Financials, OEM, Business 

Ricoh announces H12020 results 

The company has released its consolidated financial results for the half year 

ended 30 September. 

HP Inc. printing 

revenue down 

In its announcement, HP said that 

printing net revenue was down 

3% year-over-year and supplies net 

revenue was down 1%. 

HP announced fiscal 2020 net 

revenue of $56.6 billion (€47.62 

billion), down 3.6% from the prioryear 

period. For its fourth quarter 

net revenue was $15.3 billion (12.87 

billion), down 1.0% from the prior-year 

period and up 7% sequentially. 

“We closed out a strong quarter with 

a beat on the top and bottom line. The 

strength of our innovation with the 

rigor of our execution drove sequential 

growth in revenue, operating profit, 

non-GAAP EPS and cash flow,” said 

Enrique Lores, President and CEO, HP 

Inc. “We had record unit shipments in 

the quarter, reflecting the important 

role HP technology is playing in the 

lives of our customers. Our results give 

us great confidence in our ability to 

drive long-term growth and shareholder 

value in 2021 and beyond.” 

Personal Systems net revenue was 

$10.4 billion (€8.75 billion), flat yearover-year 

with a 5.1% operating margin. 

Consumer net revenue increased 24% 

and commercial net revenue decreased 

12%. Total units were up 7% with 

Notebooks units up 25% and Desktops 

units down 31%. 

Printing net revenue was $4.8 billion 

(€4.03 billion), down 3% year-overyear 

with a 14.8% operating margin. 

Total hardware units were up 14% with 

consumer hardware units up 18% and 

commercial hardware units down 10%. 

Supplies net revenue was down 1%. ■ 

Sales for Ricoh in the period to 30 

September were ¥761.948 billion ($7.29 

billion/ €6.23 billion), a 23.4% decrease 

compared to the same period of the previous 

financial year. Operating profits was a loss 

of ¥30.618 billion ($293 million/ €250 

million) compared to a profit of ¥48.648 

billion ($465 million/ €398 million) in the 

same period of fiscal year 2019. 

Ricoh explains that its fiscal year started 

with the pandemic and that the global 

economy has suffered a sharp slowdown, 

the worst level in the past few decades, due 

to the impact of the prolonged U.S. – China 

trade frictions as well as the global spread 

of COVID-19. In Japan, the economy 

deteriorated rapidly due to the increase of 

self-isolation and movement restrictions 

encouraged by the declaration of the state of 

emergency in April. 

Ricoh added: “In the Office Printing, sales 

of hardware decreased due to restrictions 

on sales activities by lockdowns and 

self- isolation. Sales of non-hardware also 

decreased due to the decline in demand 

GLOBAL Brother, OEM, Financials, Business 

Brother releases 

second quarter 

results 

The company has released its latest 

financial results for the quarter 

ended 30 September 2020. 

Brother recorded sales revenues of 

¥156.9 billion ($1.5 billion/ €1.26 

billion), a decrease of ¥24 billion ($230 

million/ €193 million) compared to the 

same period of the previous year. The 

company said that revenues were up “due 

to temporary factors, such as the buying 

up of consumables in some channels, along 

with a strong performance of products in 

the SOHO segment and gradual recovery 

of demand of consumables”. 

Brother went on to say that products in 

the SOHO segment performed well, as well 

of printing caused by the decrease in 

attendance rate (mainly in Europe and 

the Americas). These effects peak in April 

to May, and a recovery trend has been 

seen since June, but the recovery has been 

moderate.” 

Due to home working during the 

COVID-19 pandemic, Ricoh said that 

sales in Japan have decreased by 21.9%, in 

the Americas sales decreased by 30.6% and 

in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa 

decreased by 18.7% year-on-year, mainly due 

to the decrease in demand in office printing. 

Overall office printing sales were ¥382.2 

billion ($3.6 billion/ €3.1 billion) a decrease 

of 25.4% year-on-year. The segment’s profit 

decreased by ¥57.5 billion ($550 million/ 

€470 million) to a loss of ¥6.2 billion ($59.3 

million/ €50.7 million) year-on-year. Office 

service sales were ¥224.6 billion ($2.15 

billion/ €1.84 billion) a decrease of 15.2%. ■ 

as increase in demand for consumables, 

“however, these were not enough to 

compensate for decline in print volume in 

offices and effects from delays in supplies 

of ink products and consumables”. Brother 

added that sales revenue for the quarter 

were affected by slowdown in demand for 

hardware in the first quarter resulting from 

lockdowns due to the pandemic. 

Looking forward, Brother has increased 

the expected forecasted amounts upwards. 

The company now expects full year sales of 

¥600 billion ($5.7 billion/ €4.8 billion). ■ 




January 2021 23

AROUND THE INDUSTRY 

EUROPE Biuromax, Team, Business, 

Expansion 

EUROPE CTS Toner Supplies, New Hires, Sales, Team, Business 

CTS expands sales team 

In recent weeks, CTS Toner Supplies has welcomed three new members to its 

sales team. 

Biuromax 

expands in 

Greece and 

Hungary 

The company has expanded its 

team with the appointment of new 

country managers for Greece and 

Hungary. 

Biuromax announced that they 

appointed the two new additions to the 

who recently joined the Biuromax team. 

Yiannis Mantzos is the new Country 

Manager for Greece, and Zoltán Veress is 

the new Country Manager for Hungary. 

The company commented: “Mantzos 

is a Sales Manager with over 22 years 

experience in B2B & B2C sales and an 

MBA diploma with a proven track record 

of successfully meeting challenging sales 

targets through business development 

and client management. Having 

visionary and strategic personality he 

managed to develop strong leadership 

and relationship management skills. 

In his spare time, he is busy being 

husband and father of three boys and 

holds a sailing diploma.” 

Meanwhile Veress has more than 20 

years of experience mainly in sales, but 

also in purchasing and marketing. After 

working eight years as International 

Key Account Manager at Lyreco, he 

received the "Best Key Account Manager 

in Central Europe" award in 2013. He 

devotes his free time to his beloved 

women, his wife and two daughters. 

Biuromax said they are pleased 

about the new additions to the family, 

commenting: “Yiannis, Zoltán - we 

are glad that you are 

with us. Hope that with 

your experience and 

commitment will take us 

to the next level!” ■ 

Paul Nelson has joined the team as CTS’ 

new Regional Sales Manager for the Central 

regions of the UK. Nelson was brought up 

in New Zealand where he graduated with 

an Economics & Marketing Degree. He has 

since been working in the UK for 25 years 

in the office supplies industry. His previous 

experience at both Spicers and Office 

Team, heading up both the EOS and MPS 

divisions, brings a wealth of experience and 

new ideas, CTS said. 

Tim Wills, another new CTS Regional 

Sales Manager, but for the South regions 

EUROPE Data Direct, New Hire, Business 

of the UK also brings with him 20 years 

sales experience and has worked directly 

with Canon, Panasonic, Samsung and 

Toshiba, bringing a broad knowledge and 

understanding of the industry. 

CTS also announced an internal 

promotion within its sales team. Charles 

Mill has been promoted to Internal Sales 

Consultant. Charles who previously 

worked at a Rymans print shop as a print 

consultant, started at CTS just over a year 

ago in a customer support role and has 

shown both great enthusiasm and a natural 

skill for sales, CTS added. 

Steve Clayton, Managing Director said: 

“We were lucky to find such experienced 

individuals to join our dedicated team as 

well as spot talent within the company. 

We are all looking forward to a prosperous 

2021 furthering our position in the market 

as the choice supplier with the best service 

and broadest product range offering.” ■ 

Chris Mills joins Data Direct 

Data Direct, the distributor of printer and copier supplies, consumables, 

parts and workplace solutions, announced the appointment of Chris Mills 

as Business Development Manager. 

Mills joins Data Direct from Toshiba, 

where his most recent role has been 

supporting its dealer business partners 

with account management, marketing 

management and product management. 

Commenting on joining Data Direct, 

Mills said: “Having supported Data 

Direct for the past 15 years with account 

management and marketing support, I 

am excited to be joining the business as it 

goes from strength to strength, offering 

its partners innovative products and 

solutions that support efficiencies and 

diversification.” 

On Mills’ appointment, Marianne 

Chamberlain, Sales Director, said: “We 

continue to attract proven talent to the 

business and Chris joining us at this 

important time further demonstrates 

our commitment and support to our 

customers. We continue to focus 

throughout these times on providing 

profitable solutions, in our core business, 

as well as in COVID-safe categories such 

as PPE & working from home desks.” 

Mills’ appointment continues to 

strengthen the commercial front-line 

at Data Direct. ■ 

▲ Chris Mills Business Development 

Manager, Data Direct 



GLOBAL G&G, CPO, Distributor, Business 

Ninestar appoints new Caribbean distributor, 

shares CPO feedback 

Ninestar partners with inkbob.com to distribute G&G products in the Caribbean region and shared feedback from its 

second CPO. 

Ninestar partnered with inkbob.com, the 

biggest supplier of compatible cartridges in 

the Caribbean region. 

Trinidad based inkbob.com, part of 

Powersave Solutions, was established in 2015 

to provide low priced quality ink cartridges 

and toner cartridges. Operating from their 

distribution centre, where the company 

handle all of their order and product 

fulfilment. 

Commenting on the partnership, Jon 

Chan, G&G’s branding manager, said: “We 

will offer Inkbob high-quality products 

including Inkjet and toner cartridges, 

ribbon cartridges and other compatible 

print consumables of G&G brand. With 

Inkbob’s in-depth understanding of the 

imaging industry and strong local presence 

in Caribbean, it creates an opportune 

moment for us to deliver the best solution to 

customers.” 

Sam Baldeo, Director at Inkbob 

responsible for G&G’s distribution service 

said of the tie-up: “G&G is a leading 

supplier in aftermarket featuring reliable 

consumables. Adding G&G’s product 

line is a natural fit for our ever-expanding 

Caribbean customer base. And Inkbob will 

work to expand Caribbean market for G&G 

via different channels, such as physical store, 

e-commerce platform and government. I 

believe it’s a win-win.” 

To celebrate its 20th anniversary Ninestar 

ran a competition for a one year supply of 

G&G cartridges, for regular feedback from 

users. 

Soon after receiving the feedback from its 

Chief Printing Officer (CPO) in Germany, 

G&G got new feedback this month from 

Jesaeng Hospital, the medical centre in 

South Korea that was awarded the CPO 

project of G&G on 26 August. 

In Jesaeng Hospital, G&G’s 

replacement cartridges for use in Canon 

LBP6003(CRG325) and HP LaserJet 

P-2035(CE505A) devices were used in 

printing medical reports regarding diagnosis 

and treatment. G&G said: “By delivering 

smooth printing experience and excellent 

printouts, those products provided 

convenience for both doctors and patients in 

the process of treatment.” 

The company added: “Customers in 

industry like healthcare are apt to choose 

genuine cartridge because of its superior 

quality. Accordingly, they have had a strict 

standard in evaluating how the consumables 

perform. Given this fact, our consumables 

that obtained 8 or 9 out of 10 from the 

hospital users are proven performing well 

when compared to the OEMs’ products 

they used before. And one thing you 

should note is G&G’s ability to offer costeffective 

printing solutions, which are more 

affordable for users.” ■ 

EUROPE Cartridge Save, Sales, Record, Inkjet, COVID-19 

Cartridge Save hits £9 million sales 

A boom in home printing, sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, has seen 

Cartridge Save hit record £9 million ($11.9 million/ €10.1 million) domestic 

sales since March, the company reported. 

Founded in 2003, Cartridge Save is the 

largest printer and ink retailer in the UK. 

As much of the nation abandoned offices, 

demand from household customers soared, 

with a 15% increase in volumes year-onyear, 

the retailer reported. 

Since the first lockdown was imposed in 

March, the online ink retailer has shipped 

100,000 more cartridges to homes around 

the nation than during the same period last 

year - bringing its total to 750,000. 

Cartridge Save Managing Director 

Ian Cowley commented: “From March 

onwards we have seen tens of thousands 

of new domestic customers benefit from 

the unbeatable value and unsurpassed 

levels of customer service that Cartridge 

Save offers.” 

Cowley added: “This year has seen the 

way many people work utterly transformed. 

As offices fall silent, the home has become 

where millions of us now print off our 

documents. It’s an unprecedented change 

which is likely to permanently alter 

our relationships with offices for good, 

resulting in more of us working from home 

more often. Over recent months we’ve 

seen big office suppliers like Xerox really 

struggling while supermarket ink sales have 

taken a significant hit too. At Cartridge 

Save we take immense pride in providing 

quality ink products to consumers at a 

price that offers significant savings. We’re 

committed to driving down costs while 

providing levels of customer service that are 

second to none.” ■ 


January 2021 25


EUROPE Aster Technology UK Ltd., ECI, Partnership, Dealers 

Aster Technology UK partners with ECI 

ECI announced a new EDI wholesaler integration partnership with Aster Technology UK Ltd. 

Dealers will be able to send plain 

label drop ship orders or build an 

order throughout the day of Asters 

range of products, receive order 

acknowledgements, invoices and 

statements electronically. 

ECI said that Aster Technology UK Ltd 

is the first compatible and remanufactured 

toner manufacturer to partner with 

the company, enabling them to trade 

electronically with its current and future 

customers using the ECI platform. 

Aster moved into its premises in 

Lichfield during May 2018 and continued 

to increase its stock-holding capacity 

of 80,000 units by an extra 1.2 million 

cartridges with the expansion of the 

European warehouse in Holland, enabling 

larger and more time efficient deliveries. 

Tim Jackson, General Manager said: 

“We have listened to our customers and we 

are delighted to be working in Partnership 

with ECI, I would personally like to thank 

the team at ECI for their efforts and we 

look forward to welcoming more ECI 

dealers using this facility.” 

Aster Technology UK’s ever-growing 

product catalogue is now available 

to access directly via ECI’s Horizon 

software. ■ 

EUROPE PRPS, Pelikan, New Hire, Business, Channel Sales 

Susan Simkiss joins Print-Rite Europe and PRPS 

Print-Rite Europe and Print Rite Pelikan Solutions (PRPS) announced that Susan Simkiss joins the Sales team 

as Key Accounts Manager – Channel Sales. 

PRPS said that this new appointment 

further strengthens the UK sales 

structure and will allow Print Rite 

Pelikan Solutions to move forward and 

grow their overall business even more. 

“We are delighted to 

welcome Sue Simkiss to the Print-Rite 

Pelikan Solutions team here in the UK.” 

said Jason Doran General Manager 

Europe – Sales & Marketing Print-Rite 

Europe Ltd. “Sue will be responsible for 

our Key UK Channel partners for the 

Pelikan brand and for managing those 

relationships. 

“Sue has over 20 years’ experience 

supporting Channel partners including 

wholesalers, resellers, dealers and buying 

groups in the UK. The Pelikan brand 

delivers high quality and high levels of 

brand recognition with End Users and 

Dealers across Western Europe. The 

Pelikan brand is a true OEM alternative 

and offers a new and different approach 

where Dealers can increase their average 

selling prices, make more cash profit and 

get rewarded with all kinds of bonuses, 

rebates and of course, Reward Points as 

they grow”. 

“I am really looking forward to getting 

the Pelikan brand out into the Office 

Products market, the reputation of the 

Pelikan brand is first class and offers 

the perfect solution based on price and 

quality against OEM products. Plus 

with the Pelikan brands eco-friendly 

credentials and new Bio-Based products 

it makes the ideal choice,” commented 

Simkiss. 

Doran went on to say: “In spite of 

COVID this is a very exciting time for 

the 182-year-old Pelikan brand in Europe 

and especially the UK where Sue’s 

experience and contribution will be 

significant in helping us to achieve 

our objectives. We all look forward to 

working with Sue and wish her every 

success”. ■ 

▲ Susan Simkiss Key Accounts Manager – 

Channel Sales, Print-Rite Europe and PRPS 



EUROPE Katun, Minnesota 500, ECi, Business 

Katun strengthens partnership with ECi 

Katun Corporation is pleased that KATUN EMEA is the latest partner to join ECI Software Solution’s growing PO 

Processor platform - which has seen almost one million orders from its e-automate customers this year alone. 

ECI e-automate’s PO Processor, 

integrates MPS businesses’ purchasing 

process with their central ERP, 

automating ordering. Providing users 

with benefits including automatic price 

updates, real-time stock availability and 

the functionality to select preferred 

vendors to stay ahead of trends. 

This all ensures the smooth order 

and delivery of print products to MPS 

businesses’ customers - reducing costs 

and removing time-consuming processes 

along the way. For each dealer who uses 

the platform it saves them countless 

hours of manual labour a year. 

Katun, which has a long-held 

relationship with ECI in North America 

and through ECI’s acquired companies 

in Europe, is the latest supplier of print 

solutions to make its line of toner, 

printers and components available to ECI 

customers in EMEA who have the PO 

Processor integration with e-automate. 

“Purchasing no longer has to be a time 

consuming manual process for dealers,” 

said Laryssa Alexander, President, Field 

Service Division at ECI. “We want to 

enable more customers to automate 

ordering from their preferred suppliers 

to increase stock availability, maximise 

seasonal and micro trends and improve 

service to their customers. It enables 

businesses on both sides to focus on 

growth and that’s why we are seeing more 

customers taking advantage of our PO 

Processor platform, not just in EMEA 

but around the globe.” 

Heidi Boller, General Manager of 

Katun EMEA said: “By becoming an 

ECI PO Processor partner, Katun EMEA 

takes a further step to support our Dealer 

customer community. Dealers can have 

clear sight to Katun’s product availability 

and costs in real time and make the best 

possible purchasing decision for their 

MPS business. This reinforces Katun’s 

position as a market leader supplying 

the industry with high quality products, 

programs and services that support a 

MPS Dealer’s drive to profit. We are very 

pleased to partner with ECI in EMEA 

– it is an integral part of Katun’s ERP 

Integration strategy.” 

Across the globe, there are more than 40 

vendors on the PO Processor platform. 

Also this month, Bob Moore, Katun’s 

President and CEO has been named to 

the 2020 "Minnesota 500" list honouring 

Minnesota's leading business executives. 

Since 2018, the Greenspring editorial 

team has found the 500 most powerful 

and influential leaders in Minnesota 

across more than 60 industries, including 

business, non-profits, health care and 

manufacturing. Minnesota 500 profiles 

the best and brightest individuals, shares 

some secrets to their successes, and brings 

attention to some of the amazing people 

in our state. 

Moore began his career at Katun Corp. 

in 1988 as a laboratory technician. 

Having served as the senior vice president 

of operations, assistant vice president 

of technical operations, assistant vice 

president of product development and 

general manager of international markets, 

he was named President and CEO in 

February 2016. 

Announcing the honour on Social 

Media, Katun said: “Congratulations to 

Katun President and CEO Bob Moore, 

named to the 2020 "Minnesota 500," 

honouring Minnesota's leading business 

executives!” 

This is the second time Moore was 

named on the Minnesota 500 list, he 

was first honoured in 2018. ■ 


January 2021 27


ASIA HYB Toner, Team, Toner Testing, Quality 

HYB honours global partners and goes on team 

building experience 

The company has recently honoured some of its global partners with a “10-year Loyalty” award. 

HYB Toner reported that it recently has 

send out its “10-Year Loyalty” to some of 

its overseas distributors and customers, 

honouring their long-standing working 

relationship. The nominated customers 

are those who worked with HYB since (or 

before) 2010 and the prize is to honour 

the successful cooperation and mutual 

support in the development of new 

products, HYB explained. 

The awards were born in 2019 with 

the purpose to memorise the milestone 

of business relationship for those who 

support HYB in the past 10 years and has 

now become a yearly tradition. 

“Every year we have more customers 

who achieve 10-year anniversary working 

with HYB and as for myself, who bear my 

pride and started to work in this company 

since 10 years ago; I am grateful to witness 

the company has been growing with 

our customers and the customers keep 

choosing HYB as their First Choice for 

Copier consumables. We really appreciate,” 

said Kim Lee, the Sales Director of HYB. 

The company has 22 years of experience 

in the R&D, production and sales of 

copier consumables. The HYB family 

consists of 700 importers in 77 countries 

who are distributors, wholesalers, and 

manufacturers of copier imaging supplies 

and machines. 

The team of HYB Toner also recently 

went on an organised outdoor team 

building activity. 

Management staff and the 86 staff in 

different departments participated recently 

in an organised outdoor team building 

activity. The company emphasised 

that “Team Work” and “uniting their 

employees” are a critical part of the 

company’s ethos. 

Joining in with the team was owner, Mr. 

Vincent Chen, who also participated the 

military training exercises and acted as 

one of the members. Different games and 

missions were set to be achieved by the 

staff which were divided into six teams. 

During five rounds in competition, the six 

teams collected points to determine which 

team was the winner. 

At the end of the Competition, the 

company also awarded some of its 

employees awards for more than 10 years 

of service. 

Mr. Vincent Chen, president of HYB, 

expressed his appreciation to hard work 

and devotion from the employees. He 

also explained that the company has been 

growing since 1998 and everyone in HYB 

sticks to their dedicated products to help 

the company become outstanding in 

the industry. Mr. Vincent reconfirmed 

to employees his confidence to grow the 

company together with the team members 

and carry on their path to be a top world 

class manufacturer and brand for copier 

imaging supplies. 

Also announced this month was that 

the HYB technical team launched their 

new toner testing standard for both of 

their Laboratories in Yuzhou, Henan and 

Zhuhai, Guangdong. 

HYB Toner owns two Laboratories 

designed and built particularly for testing 

of copier imaging supplies and spare parts. 

The company prides itself with a high 

standard and continuous improvement 

on its standard from its HYB technical 

department to make sure both laboratories 

are performing well for HYB’s Quality 

Control, Research and Development. 

The new testing standard was created 

to instruct HYB technicians who test the 

toner to follow procedures, environmental 

conditions and a frequency with a required 

testing pattern in different testing 

situations as requested. 

Kim Lee, the Sales Director of HYB 

added: “There is an industry perception 

that the composition of copier toners is 

much simpler than laser toners. An illusion 

exists that it must be easier to produce 

copier toner cartridges. As a result, many 

manufacturers of laser toners have jumped 

into the copier industry expecting it to 

be “profitable” and “easy” with “low 

engineering and technical know-how”.” 

The company said: “HYB’s technical 

professionals have been working on 

standardisation in order to maintain the 

stability of the products. This is one of the 

reasons HYB get trusted by our customers 

as most of our customers rely on standards 

in their quality management and service 

system as well.” ■ 



ASIA Lightwords, Business, Market Research 

Lightwords adds new Japanese partner 

The research and consulting company announced that Future Assist Co. Ltd as its newly appointed Japanese agent. 

After the retirement of its previous 

Japanese agents JDS Company Ltd., 

Lightwords has welcomed its new agents, 

Future Assist Co. Ltd under the leadership 

of Masahiko Ikeda. 

Peter Mayhew, Senior Analyst and 

Director at Lightwords said: “It’s all change 

at Lightwords Tokyo office in Japan as 

we say thank you and farewell to our 

Japanese agents JDS Company Ltd. We 

really appreciate all your hard work on our 

behalf in the region. We also welcome our 

new Japanese agents, Future Assist Co. Ltd 

under the leadership of Masahiko Ikeda.” 

Masahiko Ikeda has more than 35 years 

of experience in the imaging industry. 

He worked for Fuji Xerox, Lexmark 

International and Photizo Group mainly, 

involving Printing, AI, PC and Digital 

Transformation areas like the IT related 

field as head of Japan operation, sales and 

marketing, consultant. He established 

Future Assist Co., Ltd in Tokyo last year 

and consulting related to DX, Printing 

and HR Tech business are promoted as a 

CEO. He has been engaged as LightWords 

exclusive Japanese agent effective from 

October 2020. ■ 

Masahiko Ikeda can be contact details are: 

Mobile: +81 80 3723 1206 

Phone: +81 3 6868 3174 

Email: m.ikeda@futureassist.co.jp 

GLOBAL CET, Russia, Award, Suppliers 

CET Group Russia receives award 

CET Group Russia was awarded "Best Enterprise of the Industry 2020" by the Centre for Analytical Research. 

Conducted annually by the Centre for 

Analytical Research, an expert analysis 

was carried out among 3741 companies in 

the industries and businesses in the region 

that contributed to the region’s socioeconomic 

development. 

CET Group Russia was rated in the 

list of reliable partners. Pleased about 

receiving the award, CET Russia said: 

“This once again proves that CET is a 

reliable strategic partner that you and 

your clients can trust, especially when 

participating in large long-term projects. 

The stability of CET is manifested both 

in the quality of the products and in their 

business conduct, which is the foundation 

of successful projects for CET clients!” 

CET Group Russia is the Russian 

branch of the international manufacturer 

CET Group. CET is registered in Russia 

and all products have individual branded 

packaging, which guarantees consumer 

protection from unscrupulous suppliers 

and counterfeit products, CET added. ■ 

E: sales@ctstonersupplies.co.uk 

T: 01543 474920 

www.ctstonersupplies.co.uk 

Supporting the Home Worker 

Trade Only Distributor of top selling inks ideal for the home worker 

We will send the goods straight to your 

customer under a plain label delivery note 

which can also be fully customised to include 

your full colour company logo and details. 


January 2021 29


EUROPE Mali Servis, New Building, 

Serbia, Vojislav Zecevic 

NORTH AMERICA Knight Office Solutions, Anniversary, Business, Celebrations 

Mali Servis 

opens new 

facility 

The company has announced 

the opening of their new facility 

located near to Belgrade Airport. 

Serbia-based Mali Servis has 

announced to opening of their new 

facility located in the new Belgrade- 

Dobanovci, business park. Located near 

Belgrade Airport and about 20 km or 

20 min from the Mali Service Head 

Office in Belgrade. 

The modern and brand new facility is 

built on the companies 1, 800 m2 plot 

of land and is mortgage free and 100% 

owned by the company. 

Vojislav Zecevic, General Manager 

& Co-owner, Mali Servis said: “I want 

to thank everyone who contributed 

to build this. To thank my family, 

my staff, suppliers, customers and 

all others. I'm sure this facility 

significantly will help to improve and 

increase our business activities and 

results.” 

Mali Servis was established in 1994 

supplying more than 3,000 customers 

with remanufacturing components, 

printer consumables, spare parts 

and service equipment for laser and 

inkjet printers, multifunction devices 

and photocopiers across Serbia and 

neighbouring countries. ■ 

Knight Office Solutions 

celebrates 30 th anniversary 

Founded as a one-man shop in a backyard shed, Knight Office Solutions 

now employs more than 100 full-time staff members throughout Central 

and South Texas. 

Established during the economic 

downturn of the early 1990s, the company 

initially served customers by providing an 

alternative to high-priced toner cartridges. 

As customer needs changed, Knight 

expanded its product offering to include 

network-connected MFPs and managed 

print services in 2003. Led by new business 

partner, John Cheney, that effort would 

prove pivotal for the firm, ushering in an 

era of growth that continues today, the 

company said. 

“When I founded Knight in November 

1990, my goal was to help businesses 

maximize their technology ROI,” said 

Mitch Huffman, Knight’s Founder. “That 

goal continues to drive everything we do, 

though the solutions we use to achieve 

it have changed over the years.” Today, 

Knight offers a variety of technology 

services, including printer/copier sales 

and support, managed IT solutions, and 

document workflow software. 

Just as the firm’s offering has grown, so 

too has its service area. In 2007, Knight 

expanded into the Austin market under 

the leadership of long-time industry 

veteran, George Ross. Knight would later 

establish a presence in the Coastal Bend 

with the acquisition of local Canon dealer, 

Business Product Supply, in 2018. Since 

then, Knight has expanded its corporate 

headquarters in San Antonio and relocated 

its Austin office, more than doubling the 

firm’s footprint in the Texas Capital. 

Reflecting on Knight’s growth, Co- 

President John Cheney looks to the future, 

“As we look ahead to a changing world 

in business technology, our commitment 

to providing client-focused solutions 

supported by a culture of service excellence 

will never change… the Golden Thread of 

our success has been, and always will be, 

the dedicated staff that deliver legendary 

service each and every day.” ■ 



NORTH AMERICA Close the Loop, PrintReleaf, Reforestation, Environment 

PrintReleaf announces latest partnership 

Printing Industries Alliance (PIA) has partnered with PrintReleaf to expand its certification system to organisation 

members and provide an innovative alternative on sustainable paper certification. 

PrintReleaf creates a global sustainability 

standard by certifiably guaranteeing 

to releaf the paper consumption of 

PrintReleaf customers. PrintReleaf is the 

only technology platform that measures 

customers’ paper usage and certifiably 

reforests that usage on an equivalent basis. 

The patented PrintReleaf technology 

not only tracks paper consumption, but 

also monitors PrintReleaf reforestation 

partners to ensure fulfillment. 

Printing Industries Alliance members 

are now receiving special pricing for 

PrintReleaf software and procedures. 

Tom Quartier, President of QMC Group 

said: “The QMC Group has a long heritage 

of environmental responsibility in our 

day-to-day operations. We have partnered 

with PrintReleaf because we believe their 

reforestation standard provides the greatest 

environmental value. Now we can offer 

our clients the opportunity to make their 

projects even more eco-friendly.” 

In November 2019 Close the Loop 

announced its partnership with 

PrintReleaf, now one year on, the company 

looked back and reflected on how many 

trees the partnership has planted. 

Close the Loop USA has been working 

with PrintReleaf for over a year now. All 

corrugate boxes used for the take back 

programmes the company manages are 

included in this great initiative. 

Taking to social media, Close the Loop 

said: “To date, we have offset 203,436 

lbs of paper consumption by reforesting 

2,448 standard trees on the PrintReleaf 

Exchange! We are excited to see what the 

next year brings - with companies and 

people working together, we can help make 

a huge difference for the world!” ■ 


January 2021 31

FEATURE 

Doing business in Europe? 

2021 sees new legislation and responsibilities for organisations doing business in, 

or with European Union businesses. 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

Don’t SCIP the 

January 5 th deadline 

By the time you read this article the 

SCIP database will open for submitting 

notifications to comply with the EU 

legal obligations ahead of the mandatory 

requirement that comes into effect on 5 th 

January 2021, as outlined in the Waste 

Framework Directive. 

SCIP is the database run by ECHA, 

the European Chemical Agency, for 

information on Substances of Concern in 

articles or in complex objects (Products) 

established under the Waste Framework 

Directive (WFD). 

Companies supplying articles containing 

substances of very high concern (SVHCs) 

on the Candidate List in a concentration 

above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) on the 

EU market have to submit information on 

these articles to ECHA, as from 5 January 

2021. The SCIP database ensures that the 

information on articles containing Candidate 

List substances is available throughout the 

whole lifecycle of products and materials, 

including at the waste stage. The information 

in the database is then made available to waste 

operators and consumers. 

SVHC are defined in Article 57 of 

Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 ("the 

REACH Regulation") and include 

substances which are: Carcinogenic, 

Mutagenic or toxic to Reproduction 

(CMR), meeting the criteria for 

classification in category 1 or 2 in 

accordance with Directive 67/548/EEC. 

Selling into the EU? Read on… 

A new regulation, (EU) 2019/1020 comes 

into force in July 2021 and will see 

Market Surveillance Authorities (MSA) 

introduced across the EU with new 

powers. The regulation will require all 

products sold in the European Union to 

be registered with an EU based, official 

responsible party. 

If you are based outside of the European 

Union (EU) and you sell imaging products 

(among a host of others) directly, online, 

or through a fulfilment service like 

eBay or Amazon, this regulation affects 

you. All the products you sell will need 

registering with an EU based, official 

responsible party. 

The regulation is expected to have the 

greatest impact on online sales crossing 

the EU’s border where the business 

is based outside of the EU, and the 

consumer in the EU. At the moment 

no organisation has responsible for 

regulatory compliance because the 

consumer is the ‘importer’ who is 

responsible for compliance of what they 

buy online from vendors located outside 

of the EU. 

The list of products is extensive, but 

for the office imaging market this EU 

legislation covers imaging devises and 

consumables under the Ecodesign 

Directive, the Ecolabel Regulation and 

the Energy Labelling Regulation. 

The regulation comes into force in July 

2021, and its purpose is to strengthen 

the controls on products sold in the 

EU. The regulation introduces stricter 

border controls, increased market 

surveillance and the requirement for all 

non-EU manufacturers to have an EU 

based 'responsible party'. 

The regulation is part of the EU's 

"Shaping Europe's digital future" 

policy to break down online barriers 

and improve full access to all goods 

and services offered online by EU 

businesses. Unjustified cross-border 

barriers will go and facilitate cheaper 

cross-border parcel deliveries and the 

protection of online customer rights. 

If you are based outside of the European Union (EU) 

and you sell imaging products (among a host of others) 

directly, online, or through a fulfilment service like 

eBay or Amazon, this regulation affects you. 

Scan here to view the 

ECHA infographic 

Scan here for details on the 

upcoming ECHA webinar 


You can contact visit www.therecycler.com The Recycler via Twitter for at all @RecyclerMedia 

the breaking news 

According to the Certification Experts 

website: "A 'responsible party' can be 

a manufacturer, importer, distributor, 

fulfilment service provider, or Authorised 

Representative. " 

The responsible party's role is to be the EU 

point of contact, and you need to formally 

register for this and making available the 

product conformity and technical files and 

documentation. The responsible party 

is responsible for verifying CE marking 

and informing the authorities if a product 

presents a risk. 

The contact information of the responsible 

party must be provided on the product and/ 

or its packaging. 

When the regulation comes into force, there 

will be increased market surveillance and 

possible penalties under the new regulation. 

Here is our take on 

the legislation: 

Any company located in a 3rd country 

(Non-EU / EEA) say the UK (From January 

2021) China or India can place stock in 

an Amazon (or any fulfilment house or 

platform) warehouse. The private customer 

buys the product on amazon and Amazon 

fulfils the order. The legal responsibility 

that the product complies with all EU 

regulations (CE, WEEE, REACH, RoHS 

etc) is currently with the private citizen. 

Neither the manufacturer nor Amazon have 

that responsibility. This regulation requires 

manufacturers to appoint an EU based 

representative to be responsible for all EU 

regulations (CE, WEEE, REACH, RoHS 

etc). It also introduces framework regulations 

for market surveillance authorities and to 

prevent entry at EU borders for prohibited 

products. What this means in reality is that 

a product banned in Austria, will be banned 

across the EU. 

For example: A company imports a container 

of toner cartridges into Italy. They are 

found to contain decaBDE which is banned, 

and the toner itself breached REACH 

regulations. The Italian authorities ban that 

specific product from that manufacturer, but 

the ban will be EU wide. The manufacturers 

EU representative will be the person / 

company legally responsible for notifying 

the authorities and resolving problems. 

The market surveillance authorities will 

have powers to impose penalties where 

appropriate. 

This regulation removes the responsibility 

from the private citizen. A manufacturer 

won’t be able to sell directly into the 

EU without appointing an Authorised 

Representative. But Amazon or any 

fulfilment house or platform, company 

etc, can, for a fee, be the Authorised 

Representative. 

We hope this is helpful and it is provided 

by us based on our reading of the directives, 

but we are not lawyers and if you need 

more information you should seek 

professional advice. ■ 

Issue 338 335 

January October 2021 2020 

33

FEATURE 

Blue Angel 

On the back of some press coverage about the Blue Angel accreditation scheme, 

we take a look at what it is, how it works and why it may, or may not be relevant 

to the office imaging market. 

The recent hullabaloo surrounded Ninestar 

achieving the Blue Angel certification for a 

cartridge that was announced in August. A 

test purchase of the cartridge part number 

revealed it was a new build cartridge, not 

a remanufactured cartridge. A complaint 

was made to Blue Angel and Ninestar’s 

certification was removed faster than Elon 

Musk’s Space X rocket. 

Ninestar clarified the situation confirming 

that no Ninestar or G&G products with 

Blue Angel Eco labelling had been shipped 

and there are none available in the market. 

They did clarify that a human had errored by 

inadvertently leaving off the B suffix to the 

part number in the application and products 

sent for testing. The suffix letter “B” refers to 

“Blue Angel”. 

For anyone outside of Europe, indeed for a lot 

inside Europe, the question is: What is Blue 

Angel? 

And the official answer is: The Blue Angel 

is an environmental label organised by the 

German federal government for the protection 

of people and the environment. It sets 

very exacting standards, is independent 

and has proven itself over more than 

40 years as a guide for selecting 

environmentally-friendly products. 

It should give confidence to consumers 

because the products and services that have 

been awarded the Blue Angel ecolabel are 

more environmentally-friendly than other 

comparable, standard products and services. 

OK so far, but for imaging products, 

does Blue Angel deliver? 

The OEMs have certainly embraced Blue 

Angel and between them have 410 printers 

Blue Angel certified. With HP at 113, 

Lexmark at 65 and Brother at 53 being 

the top three. 

• Brother 53 

• Canon 35 

• Epson 8 

• HP 113 

• Konica Minolta 16 

• Kyocera 23 

• Lexmark 65 

• OKI 12 

• Ricoh 20 

• Riso 4 

Most of the OEMs have just registered their 

printers for Blue Label in Germany, but Sharp 

has registered their printers for Germany and 

seven other European countries. Ricoh has 

registered 18 for Germany and two for the 

Netherlands. One OEM we spoke with told 

us: “Blue Angel is important for us, it enables 

us to win tenders by being a key environment 

differentiator.” 

To achieve Blue Angel for printers, copiers 

or multifunction devices must meet strict 

requirements for material selection and 

recyclable design. 

One of the key requirements for printers is 

the that they are designed for recycling and 

office equipment certified with the Blue Angel 

should promote high-quality recycling and 

re-use of components by design. 

Blue Angel requires that devices shall be 

designed in a way that they MUST meet the 

following requirements: 

1. Are at least 50% of the components of the 

device, excluding standard parts, identical 

in construction to those of other devices 

of the same manufacturer, and the same 

performance category and generation? 

2. Have provisions been made to use 

refurbished assemblies or components 

and is this permitted? 

3. Can modules or containers for colourants 

for single colours be replaced separately? 

4. Is the use of refurbished toner modules 

and refurbished ink modules and containers 

according to DIN 33870-1 and 33870-2 

not prevented by constructive, softwarebased 

or other measures? 

5. Can modules (cartridges) for colourants 

be refurbished? 

You might think that most OEMs would fail 

item 4 when they issue a firmware update that 

• Sharp 7 

• TA Triumph Adler 34 

• Toshiba 7 

• Xerox 13 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

locks out reused products. But HP navigates 

around that with a disclaimer on the printer 

certification: 

“Please note that HP laser printing systems are 

always tested with HP Original toner cartridges. 

Thus, HP can only ensure compliance of its 

certified devices with the Blue Angel criteria when 

they are operated with original supplies.” 

Talking of consumables, only three companies 

currently have Blue Angel certification for 

remanufactured cartridges. Armor, Clover 

and Memo. Clover sought certification “due 

to German tender and contract conditions 

requesting Blue Angel certification”. A similar 

situation at Armor when responding to a 

“German end customer request (Tender). 

We already have Nordic Swan or NF but the 

customer wanted BA”. 

Blue Angel is very Germany driven and has 

little or no importance in other countries in 

EU and there is little take up from German 

remanufacturers. That’s probably because 

the cost of certification is very high at around 

€5,000 ($6,000) per cartridge, making it 

impossible to reference a lot of different 

cartridges. 

Armor said: “We should have the ability 

to qualify and certify the semi-finished 

product and not just brand by brand.” Clover 

commented: “From an industry point of view 

I think it should be more important, but the 

complication is that the printer cartridge/ 

supply is just one part of the print system. It 

does not specifically address the print cartridge 

as a stand-alone item, and I believe does not 

address some of the wider issues regarding 

recycling.” It is too “focused on emissions”. 

If Blue Angel is to get wider traction across the 

European industry, Blur Angel needs to address 

some of the issues directly related to the print 

cartridge and also need to be a less expensive 

test protocol. For small companies that want 

to have a comprehensive list of Blue Angel 

compliant products the cost is prohibitive. 

If OEMs can get the accreditation but have 

disclaimers that navigate around the "How 

can I purchase products and services without 

having any misgivings?" question, how relevant 

can blue Angel be for the consumer when it 

comes to printers and consumables? ■ 




January 2021 35

INSIDE TRACK 

Industry Leaders Q&A 

As we enter 2021, we caught up with Benjamin Young, Vice President 

at Hubei Dinglong who heads up Speed Infotech which joined the 

Hubei Dinglong Group in 2019. 

▲ Benjamin Young, Vice 

President, Hubei Dinglong 

The Recycler (TR): Where do you see the 

market today? 

Benjamin Young (BY): The pandemic ignited 

a ‘Great Recession’ and at the same time 

speeded it up. Everyone is involved and cannot 

run away from the big time. For aftermarket 

printing industry, its problems are exposed 

during the crisis. 

TR: What would you say those 

problems are? 

BY: The aftermarket for printing consumables 

is been around for more than 30 years. In 

that time, customers were educated by OEMs 

and they recognised the OEM brand names. 

Yet barely a few customers knew about the 

aftermarket products. Now 30 years later, we 

are witness to some changes in this industry. 

TR: Can you highlight some of those 

changes? 

BY: The market is changing. Before 2000 the 

market share for aftermarket products was 

less than 10% for the whole global market. 

Typically, products sold in neutral packing, no 

big brand names. 

In the first half of 2019 we saw the China 

market change very significantly, especially 

the sales of laser printer cartridges. The total 

sales value was $7.65 billion (€6.32 billion) and 

quantity was 34.52 million pieces. The market 

share between OEMs and the aftermarket 

55.70% 44.30% 

Aftermarket 

OEM 

changed significantly with the OEM market 

share at 55.7 percentage vs. 44.3 percentage for 

the aftermarket. That’s not me saying that, it is 

IDC data. 

We are seeing that aftermarket printing and 

manufacturing has become more and more 

powerful, to provide new choices for worldwide 

customers, with higher standards and more 

certifications. People can find the compatible 

ones in online and offline stores conveniently. 

TR: How has this been achieved? 

BY: The aftermarket has built a full industry 

supply chain in just 20 years. Think back 30 

years ago when the first compatible ribbon 

was launched. Initially the aftermarket 

manufacturer was able to make simple and easy 

assembling products, like ribbon and refill ink. 

Fast forward 20 years and China manufacturers 

can produce complicated toners with chips, 

they can get every single part, from the screws to 

the semiconductor products, from a domestic 

supply chain centred in Zhuhai Guangdong. 

Here you will find many manufacturers for 

laser cartridge, inkjet cartridge, ribbon, ink 

and everything related aftermarket accessories 

supplies. 

It seems like a miracle to go from zero to 

building a full industry supply chain. 

TR: Doesn’t this supply chain present 

challenges to sustain the volume? 

BY: Yes, we have stepped into and overcapacity 

period where the miracle now meets the reality 

and the speed never slows down. 

TR: Can you give an example? 

BY: We are facing the reality that we now have 

fully industry overcapacity. Let’s do the maths. 

In China, an online sales platform sells 500g 

pork for RMB50 (€6.30 / $7.65). Meanwhile 

some model laser cartridges weigh 500g, guess 

what, its price is RMB20 (€2.50 / $3.00), 

including coloured box packaging! The 

margin is too narrow to cover the cost. 

The factories want to win the orders even 

by killing themselves. 

All customers want to enjoy the lower price, 

but they should understand the theory behind 

the prices. Factories will reduce the cost to 

support the price, they will use the cheapest 

and unqualified materials. They don’t focus 

on better products but worse ones. When 

consumers buy a bad product, they will lose 

faith in the aftermarket. Eventually it will hurt 

the whole industry and customers. 

TR: Is there an upside? 

BY: Yes, there is a new pattern that is emerging, 

and it is not all negative. Fortunately, we do 

have some positive thinking manufacturers. 

The focus has to be on patented solutions, 

automated production and a clear focus on the 

bottom line, all the time. 

At the same time, the growth of online sales has 

become more and more mature. Customers can 

get their products easily by a click on mobile 

and stay home waiting for the parcel in 1 to 3 

days. Especially in the pandemic, orders online 

seem to be a better and healthy way for life and 

work. 

In 2013 DINGLONG completed the 

acquisition to Mito Color Imaging, it was the 

first collaborative deal in the aftermarket in 

China and is a new model to sustain further 

companies and industry growth. Since 2013, 

DINGLONG has continually invested in 

Mito’s automated production and patent 

solution development to deliver more high 

value and premium quality color products for 

customers, inly enabled with DINGLONG’s 

full support. 

TR: 2020 was DINGLONG’s 20th 

anniversary. What was the year really like? 

BY: We had big plans for our 202020 

celebrations, but it is no secret that 2020 was 

hard year, especially for DINGLONG who 

are located in Wuhan China. We suffered the 

unpredictable pandemic in the first quarter 

and to protect every single staff member, 

DINGLONG shut down completely to keep 

the families safe. 

Only in April were we able to gradually restart 

working. We put in place better controls and 

working arrangements to restore the production 

of normal toners supply for the whole industry. 



TR: 20 years in and a tough 2020, 

what will you take forward from these 

experiences? 

BY: We made it through the big test confidently 

and it gave us an opportunity to review the last 

20 years, and DINGLONG has 4 core values. 

1. Customer first 

The costumer is the boss. We serve our 

customers by offering brand experiences that 

play a meaningful role in their lives, and always 

in a responsible way. 

As the company grows, it's easy to lose sight of 

the customer and place other stakeholders ahead 

of who's really important. Although they may 

not be tuning in to every one of the earnings 

calls, the customers are the ones behind the 

numbers. Make sure to put first things first. 

2. Innovation gene 

DINGLONG is a technology oriented 

company focusing on breaking through the 

key materials developments. We launched 

compatible, patented, colour toners models 

in 2012. In 2008 Chipjet entered the market 

for inkjet chips. In 2015 we released the high 

quality PCR/DR and we continue to innovate, 

and we are never completely satisfied with our 

results, which are the fuel of our company. 

Our focus and zero-complacency guarantee is a 

lasting competitive advantage. 

3. Equal core value 

As a well-known toner, chip, key accessories 

supply partner for the whole industry, we treat 

Automation and smart production are the cornerstone 

of the DINGLONG group companies who are all 

equipped with automated production lines. 

all customers as equal business partners. 

We encourage and it is also our goal that we 

have healthy competition instead of cutthroat 

ones. Like any industry, any monopoly will 

injure itself and ultimately the customers. 

4. Collaboration forever 

Being in a band is always a compromise. 

Provided that the balance is good, what you 

lose in compromise, you gain by collaboration. 

Quoted from Mike Rutherford, English 

Guitarist. 

Lose and gain is a balance management. No 

company is an island. We need to rely on others. 

The whole industry then becomes stronger and 

we can then afford better products and service 

for customers. Consumers will then realize that 

the aftermarket brand power and it could be 

good value choice. 

Bad competition and poor products and endless 

problems, leaking, bad printing out, lack of 

customer service driven by a price war, will force 

people to make a new choice in somehow. 

TR: What does the future look like? 

BY: For the aftermarket the pandemic exposed 

its problems, like overcapacity and poor quality. 

To survive and grow we need to focus on 

internal order and ensure collaborative 

communications with upstream and 

downstream partners. We recognise the 

different advantages from all factories, to 

enable us to compete in a perfect way. Our goal 

is to always provide quality goods and service 

for customers. 

Automation and smart production are the 

cornerstone of the DINGLONG group 

companies who are all equipped with 

automated production lines. Mito produces 

colours, Retech the monochromes, Speed the 

remanufactured inkjet cartridges, Printwell the 

new compatible inkjet cartridges. We believe 

technology power will provide full sufficiency 

with reaching zero-defective tolerance. 

As leading companies, we need take the 

responsibility to raise the whole manufacturing 

level for moving ahead. ■ 

24 – 26 May, 2021 

Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE 

Office & School 

Book your stand now in our 

dedicated REMAN Expo pavilion 

and capitalize on the Middle East 

and Africa market 

10 th 

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Contact us: 

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Play & Creative 

Issue 338 January 2021 

37

FEATURE 

We look to 2021… 

FEATURED 

A R TIC L E 

If 2020 was an “annus horribilis”, hopefully we can “Look on the bright side of life” in 2021. 

When Britain's Queen Elizabeth addressed 

her nation on Christmas Day 1992, the queen 

described an "annus horribilis", wrecked by the 

collapse of three of her children's marriages 

- including Prince Charles' to Princess Diana - 

and the fire that severely damaged her Windsor 

Castle home, Reuters reported at the time. As 

we go to press who knows how she will describe 

2020, but "annus horribilis II" seems to fit the 

bill. So, as the song goes, we are looking at the 

brighter side of life and what we might expect 

in 2021. 

Politics 

Politics are usually above my pay grade, but 

whatever 2021 and beyond brings us will be as 

a result of the political decisions made in 2020. 

Integral CEO, Jan Hageman clearly shows his 

opinion: "What we have seen in 2020 looks 

like a contest between governments trying to 

outcompete each other to win the prestigious 

award called "The Toughest Lockdown 

Causing the Biggest Harm to the Economy. " 

My prediction for 2021 is that the market for 

printing consumables will recover quickly once 

governments come to their senses … but as a 

famous quote by former German chancellor 

Helmut Schmidt once said: "The stupidity of 

governments should never be underestimated. " 

Politics aside, we live and operate businesses 

that have to spot trends and adapt accordingly. 

Hubei Dinglong Vice President, Benjamin 

Young said of 2020: "The pandemic ignited a 

Great Recession and at the same time speeded it 

up." So, what are we expecting in 2021? 

The hybrid office 

2020 saw a sea change in how people work. 

The office was closed and working from 

home became the norm and, according to 

Konica Minolta, created "an irreversible 

and fundamental shift in the meaning of 

the workplace." We now have hybrid office 

arrangements and IDC expects by 2021 that "at 

least 70% of digitally enabled SMBs will operate 

under a hybrid model of working, with remote 

work emerging as a norm." 

Antonio Sanchez of Nubeprint suggests that: 

"Telework is here to stay. With it, the offices 

lose between 70 and 30% of printing that is 

transferred to the home. Today, no one has 

contracts for printers at home yet. The fastest 

and best technologically prepared will take over 

what is probably the last greatest niche in the 

world of printing. The technology to monitor 

printers at home exists and is within the reach of 

every pocket." 

"Having adapted to a new way of working, 

2021 will see the rise of more opportunities 

for those working partly from home and at 

the office - splitting their schedules between 

colleagues with no interruption of service as 

provided before. With the small desk top inkjets 

and lasers, cloud phones that can ring the 

same time at home and at the office, capturing 

the computers at work, there is no end of 

creativeness when the situation arises. And with 

it working so well I can't see it not continuing," 

said Laura Heywood, of UKCRA. 

Biuromax responded to the new challenges, 

utilising new tools. "We explored and used new 

communication channels, video conferencing, 

remote home office, social media and many 

more ways to interact and contact customers, 

vendors and employees." 

Constrained budgets 

2020 strained the budgets of every business 

and is the challenge every company will have to 

manage for several years to come. "Without a 

doubt 2021 will be a revolutionary year. It looks 

a bit unpredictable but change always mean 

opportunity," said GM Technologies’ 

Zoltan Matyas. 

"I'm preparing for a record turnover and a 

double-digit growth here at GM Technology. 

Businesses once again have to adapt to both 

economic and ecological challenges. The 

remanufacturing industry can provide 

answers. It’s simple. A refurbished printer 

running on remanufactured consumables 

is the most economical and most ecological 

solution period." 

Having adapted to a new way of working, 2021 will see the rise 

of more opportunities for those working partly from home and 

at the office - splitting their schedules between colleagues with 

no interruption of service as provided before. 

Research commissioned by The Recycler 

certainly seems to back up the demand for 

upcycled and refurbished equipment. In 

January 2020, 85% of used equipment was 

exported outside of Europe. Fast forward 

to January 2021, and the export figure has 

dropped to 65% as sales of used technology 

increase. 

As Matyas points out, a refurbished printer 

running on remanufactured consumables is the 

best option. Psychologically a decision to buy a 

used printer will meet the constrained budget 

requirements, and the use of remanufactured 

consumables is a taken. 

Long term the growth of reuse equipment sales 

will see a potential decline in new technology 

sales. Look at the motor industry, where used 

car sales exceed new car sales. 



Reuse opportunities 

Politics again, but the future of reuse is in the 

hands of politicians as the European Union and 

other governments are embracing the Green 

deal Agenda and a resetting towards reuse. 

Vincent van Dijk, Secretary-General at Etira, 

suggests: "Politically and for the reuse economy, 

we expect the EU will implement circularity 

in our industry by insisting that OEM's 

facilitate cartridge reuse, either through a tough 

Voluntary Agreement or through regulation." 

Biuromax reflects on the last 12 months and 

suggests we have been taught "very tough and 

valuable lessons. New European legislation 

and rising ecological awareness proves the 

circular economy is the correct approach for 

now and our future times ahead. Zero waste 

business models and zero waste initiatives by 

institutions & companies delivers a variety of 

new opportunities and paths to profits. This in 

turn offers a much bigger return in job creation, 

economic recovery & last and most importantly 

habitat preservation." 

"The "Reuse Movement," or the 

remanufacturing industry is becoming the 

fastest growing industry within the economic 

downturn. Various factors aligned this time. 

The same people who yesterday laughed at 

working on refurbished laptops and phones 

are now advocates equipping their remote 

workforce with them to save costs and be green. 

The speed of evolving tech in the past 4-5 years 

resulted that every single equipment on today 

market can satisfy any office printing needs of 

any user making new hardware features pretty 

much unnecessary and irrelevant." Matyas 

commented 

Doing business 

Increased reuse is good; constrained budgets 

are also good, better communications is also 

good. The strength of a small business versus 

big businesses like Amazon is that small 

companies can deliver the personal touch 

where face-to-face meetings help close deals. 

Long term the growth of reuse equipment sales 

will see a potential decline in new technology sales. 

Adapt, change, evolve! If you want to get 

through this and come out the other side, it's 

time to accept that you're going to need to 

change and of course, we don't like change. 

But it's going to be essential these coming 

months/years. 

Working from home isn't an issue anymore, 

but face-to-face meetings, are still off the 

menu. Zoom calls (other platforms are 

available) work, but the market has 

adjusted to online buying, and an online 

store is an essential part of every company 

marketing mix. 

Biuromax "are constantly improving our 

ecommerce presence, with regular updates to 

our online web shop and website, providing 

detailed product, pricing, stock and secure 

easy payment information to our customer's 

24 hours a day, all year round." 

Static Control, responding to the "transitioned 

to [the] work-from-home" office environment 

"will also make our website easier for customers 

to find and order products." Because "we know 

having a more user-friendly online ordering 

experience will help strengthen our relationship 

with customers." 

And of course, your social media hasn't been 

touched for months, or ever and that needs to 

change. An easy to navigate website, an online 

store and active social media strategy is essential 

to connect and communicate, with everyone. 

Clients, suppliers, colleagues, team members, 

everyone. 

Reinvent or create a new strategy. 

Your customers business has changed as they 

adapt to their customers' changes. From the 

products and services, you supply, it's time 

to look at how that affects everyone in your 

channel. "As we look to 2021, we have exciting 

plans in store for customers" to the "continual 

release of the latest premium components, 

toners and cartridges." 

Reach out and help 

We are in this together, and if you can help or 

support a customer, you should be looking at all 

the options. 

Last word 

From ETIRA: "Socially, and thanks to the 

arrival of new vaccines, the COVID-19 damage 

will gradually subside as the year progresses, and 

who knows, we can all look forward to meeting 

face to face again later in the year." 

Last, last word 

Happy New Year to you all and keep smiling 

and see you in Prague this coming September. ■ 


January 2021 39

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 

EUROPE GM Technology, Cartridges, Remanufacturing 

GM Technology releases Kyocera “GEN” range 

The company has added a new range of remanufactured Kyocera cartridges for use in various Ecosys and TAskAlfa devices. 

GM Technology said that this new 

range are made with 100% reuse materials 

including the cartridge body itself and use 

reset chips. When the company developed 

the product, its strategy was to provide 

the market with a Kyocera range which 

“provides a difference”. After a long R&D 

process the company approved what it 

believes is the highest quality aftermarket 

toner it could find on the market. 

The new toner formula allowed GM 

Technology to release replacement 

cartridges for older but very popular 

monochrome models such as the 

TK11XX and TK31XX series. The 

company said: “We are particularly proud 

of our new release of the TK 3200 model 

with page yields of 40,000 pages which is 

in very high in demand on the market.” 

GM Technology also manufacture 

extremely high yield models such as the 

TK6305, 6325, 6705. Also now available 

are two brand new arrivals to its high 

yield SKU range, the TK7225 (35K) 

TK7300 (15K) and TK7205 (35K). 

Zoltan Matyas, GM Technologies 

Director of International Business 

Development said: “Following our huge 

Canon range roll out, the release of our 

Kyocera range is another very important 

milestone for us. It’s a result of a push 

from our growing partner program 

customer base and we are proud that we 

now can support them with another great 

and very important brand as Kyocera. 

“To get to know the full range and 

prices please get in touch and consult 

your sales representative.” 

Additional replacement cartridges for 

colour models include the TK8305, 8345 

from the TaskAlfa range and the TK 5270 

/ 5272, TK5280/5282 and TK5290 from 

the ECOSYS range. GM Technology 

explained that these colour models come 

with “exceptional image density, colour 

match and page yield stability”. 

GM Technology previewed that 

it is now working on getting ready 

remanufactured TK5215, 5270 and 

TK8515, 8525 colour models which are 

set to be released in the next few weeks. 

Matyas added: “Both the new Canon 

and Kyocera range is part of our highly 

successful multi-level partner programme 

which offers very competitive prices, 

special conditions and quarterly rebate 

programs for our distribution channel 

partners. We are planning to launch a 

special launch edition promotion with 

an additional 5% discount on all new 

orders.” ■ 

For more information 

on the abovementioned 

products 

and more, please scan 

the QR code. 

EUROPE IR Italiana Riprografia, New Products, Waste Toner Boxes 

IR Italiana Riprografia adds to waste toner box range 

The Italian company has added a variety of new compatible waste toner boxes to its range. 

IR Italiana Riprografia announced 

furtheradditions to its products range, 

new compatible waste toner boxes for use 

in HP/Samsung SL K4250RX, Kyocera 

FS C8020, Konica Minolta Bizhub 308E, 

Konica Minolta Bizhub C3320i, Ricoh 

MP 2554SP, Sharp MX-2610, Sharp MX- 

4112 and Sharp MX-M2630 devices. 

The products were produced “in a 

certificated environment” including the 

ISO 9001:2015 quality management 

system certificate; the ISO 14001:2015 

environmental management system 

certificate; and the BS OHSAS 

18001:2007 occupational health and 

safety management system certificate. The 

“product performances of several items 

distributed” by IR follow the standards set 

by STMC and ISO 19752 and ISO 19798. 

IR Italiana Riprografia products are in 

compliance with the RoHS II directive 

(when required). ■ 

For more 

information about our 

catalogue, please scan 

the QR code. 



GLOBAL Ninestar, G&G Select, G&G, Cartridge Range, New Products 

Be Selective: G&G rolls-out G&G Select range 

On 17 November, G&G held its first online products & solutions presentation to start the global roll-out of G&G Select 

range targeted at achieving higher value market penetration. 

In the presentation the company 

that the G&G Select range of products 

have been upgraded with the selection 

and incorporation of high-quality raw 

materials and key components such as 

toner, OPC, etc. which are sourced from 

well-known suppliers that have long-term 

cooperation with OEMs. 

The company said that the Select 

series has a “0” tolerance approach as 

the products go through an 11-stage 

enhanced SQE, IQC, IPQC, FQE and 

other QC inspection processes. 

Comparison data between Select and 

original products confirm that the page 

yields of G&G Select is conspicuously 

higher than that of the original., with the 

colour density and transfer rate are almost 

the same as those of the OEM. The colour 

gamut and brightness map basically 

coincide with the OEM. 

The range has also received upgraded 

external box material that delivers a better 

appearance and texture and ensures it is 

more convenient to unpack the box. This 

is combined with tighter packaging that 

delivers stronger resistance to damage 

during transportation, the company said. 

Jon Chan, G&G’s Global Branding 

Manager said that Select is a new subbrand 

of G&G, behind which is the 

support of the Ninestar platform. 

He added that differentiated from 

G&G which covers users in all sorts of 

industries, Select has been put in the 

position of targeting vertical industry 

users. 

During the online product launch, 

Chan said: “This is our plan for the G&G 

Select product architecture. One of them 

includes standard yields and increased 

yields cartridges, and copier cartridges; 

the other is our innovative products, 

including Jumbo series, Eco-saver ink 

cartridges, anti-firmware upgrade series. 

In the center are our customized products 

for vertical industry users. As per the 

needs of your local market, we can 

develop corresponding products together, 

to widen the assortment.” ■ 

To know more details 

about G&G Select, 

watch the online 

products launch on 

G&G’s YouTube channel 

or scan the QR code. 

ASIA Mito, New Products, Cartridges, Colour Toner 

Mito announces new colour 

toner kits 

The company has launched a new compatible colour toner kit for use in Fuji 

Xerox DocuPrint devices. 

The latest addition to Mito’s product 

portfolio is a compatible colour toner kit 

for use in Fuji Xerox DocuPrint C5155 d 

devices. The cartridges come with a page 

yield of 26,000 for the black and 25,000 

for the colour cartridges. 

Mito said about the launched products 

that “the newly released products apply 

good compatibility, excellent printing 

performance and keep product quality in 

consistency”. Due to using a “high quality 

chemical toner powder”, the cartridges 

“offer high colour strength, high resolution 

and vibrant colours”, according to Mito. ■ 

For more information 

on the above-mentioned 

products as well as 

Mito’s full range of 

products, please visit 

scan the QR code. 


January 2021 41

PRODUCTS & TECHNOLOGY 

EUROPE Biuromax, Cartridges, 

Refilling, New Products 

ASIA Chipjet, ChipStation, Reset Chips, New Technology 

Chipjet introduces the ChipStation 

Biuromax 

launches 

new range 

of products 

The Polish supplier has 

announced new refilled toner 

cartridges for use in various 

Kyocera Mita devices. 

Biuromax has added to its wide 

range of premium refilled toner 

cartridges. Now available are refilled 

toner cartridges for use in Kyocera 

TASKalfa 250/300/2550/4550 and 

5550 devices as well as TASKalfa 

3050/3550/5550/4550/5550 and FS- 

C8650 devices. 

The company’s product range also saw 

the addition of refilled toner cartridges 

for use in Utax P-C3560i MFP/P-c561i 

MFP and P-C3560DN devices as well as 

TASKalfa 2552ci and 3252ci machines. 

Biuromax said that the refilled toner 

cartridges are made in Japan and chips 

and waste boxes are also available 

within the range. ■ 

For more 

information on the 

above-mentioned 

products and more, 

just scan the QR 

code. 

The ChipStation is a firmware upgrade manager that end users can use to 

upgrade chips themselves after a firmware update has been issued by an OEM. 

The frequency of OEM firmware upgrade 

is increasing year-on-year, as there are over a 

thousand OEM firmware upgrades issued 

from 2019 to 2020. Main methods include 

online upgrades, timed upgrade, upgrade 

triggered by consumables and new factory 

firmware. Each firmware update can be 

time consuming and costly with stock 

management and user dissatisfaction. 

Chipjet says that ChipStation firmware 

upgrade solution can finish the chip 

upgrade swiftly and only requires the 

write head to target chips on the toner 

or inkjet cartridge. Featuring a weight of 

only 450g and its compact size, the device 

is easy to carry. When OEM firmware 

updates happen, end users do not have 

to spend time on waiting for after-sales 

service and can write data on chips with the 

ChipStation Intelligent Firmware upgrade 

Management System by themselves. 

Chipjet , pleased about the launch said: 

“ChipStation upgrade management 

system is finally launched on the market 

by Chipjet’s dozens of researchers after 

technical breakthroughs in hundreds of 

procedures from R & D to production and 

testing.” 

The company says that compared with 

the traditional upgrade mode, this system 

has three advantages: 

• Portable write head, convenient and 

efficient 

• Promoted efficiency, reduce time and 

labor cost 

• Upgraded remote in-time monitoring 

program and don’t need manual 

operation 

The company added: “Chipjet keeps 

pace with newest policies and industry 

trends and unceasingly grasps the most 

professional chip fab experience in the 

world, trying its best to cope with firmware 

upgrade with the most convenient method. 

Being able to guarantee the product quality 

and provides service, Chipstation is an 

important tool for enterprises to lower 

inventory pressure and enhance industrial 

competitiveness.” 

Another arrival in Chipjet’s product 

portfolio are replacement chips for use with 

HP 106A/118A series cartridges. 

Chipjet said that this latest chip solution 

is “developed in-house” and offers “stability 

and safety”. ■ 

For more information, 

watch the video by 

scanning the QR code. 



ASIA HYB Toner, Cartridges, New Products 

HYB announces latest replacement cartridges 

HYB released new compatible toner cartridges for use in Ricoh IM C300/C300F, Konica Minolta bizhub, Ricoh Pro 

and Kyocera devices. 

The latest addition to HYB product 

range are new compatible toner cartridges 

for use in Ricoh IM C300/C300F 

devices. The cartridges come with page 

yields of 17,000 for the black and 6,000 

for the colour cartridges at 5% coverage. 

HYB Toner also launched a new 

compatible toner cartridge that replaces 

Konica Minolta’s TN812 cartridge and 

is for use in Konica Minolta bizhub 

758/808 devices. 

One of the latest additions are HYB’s 

new compatible toner cartridges for use 

in Ricoh Pro C651EX/C751/C751EX 

machines which come with page yields 

of 48,500 pages for the black and colour 

cartridges. 

The company said about this latest 

addition: “HYB has been serving 

distributors and dealers with premium 

quality toner, developer and drum units 

for a seamless replacement after OEM 

Product. That’s why it’s so important for 

HYB to develop new items and assure our 

distributors are in the 1st place to carry 

a full range of latest and quality assured 

products.” 

Furthermore, the company’s product 

portfolio saw the addition of compatible 

toner cartridges replacing TK7310 and 

TK7315 cartridges for use in Kyocera 

ECOSYS P4140dn devices. These 

cartridges come with page yields of 

15,000 at 5% coverage. 

HYB added that its “proven quality 

toner for use in Kyocera ECOSYS 

OPEN FOR BUSINESS 

P4140dn has been tested compatibility 

and reverse ALL STOCK compatibility AVAILABLE in their LAB 

and by their customers.” 

HYB Toner Toner added Cartridges that more products 

are in the Chips approval process and will be 

released in Waste the next Toner two weeks. Bottles ■ 

For more 

Fuser Units 

information on the 

Drum Units 

above and other 

products from Developers HYB, 

please scan OEM the QR STOCK 

code. PPE 

EUROPE ECS, Developer Packs, New Products 

ECS adds new developer packs to product range 

Despite the circumstances, 

we’re still working hard 

to deliver fantastic 

The remanufacturer’s latest product highlights are a new range of developer packs for use remanufactured in Kyocera devices. products 

to all our valued clients 

Effective Consumable Solutions (ECS) also provides the following relative • Utax compatible CDC1930 

have announced yet another product products that are suitable for use with the toner cartridges State-of-the-art filling 

release, with the latest addition to their equivalent devices: 

• Utax compatible machines in CDC1945 the UK 

product range being Kyocera compatible • Kyocera remanufactured TK8305 

toner cartridges ISO 9001 & 14001 certified 

DV8505 Developer Packs, which have toner cartridges 

ECS added products, that access services to their & facilities entire 

now been introduced to the market. 

range of toners and consumables can only 

• Kyocera remanufactured TK8505 

Dedicated research and 

These products are suitable for use in 

be gained by becoming a Partner. ■ 

toner cartridges 

development teams 

Kyocera TASKalfa 4550ci, 4551ci, 5550ci, 

See more details on 

5551ci and Utax CDC1930, CDC1945, 

• Kyocera remanufactured MC8705 

The largest range of 

how to become an 

3005ci devices. 

main charge assembly 

products and parts in the UK 

ECS partner today, by 

Alongside their new Kyocera DV8505 • Kyocera remanufactured WT-860 scanning the QR code 

Developer Packs, the remanufacturer 

waste toner box 

here: 

Contact ECS NOW 

www.ecs-uk-ltd.com 

+44 (0)1427 337 350 

Effective Consumable Solutions 


January 2021 43

MARKETPLACE 

TONER MANUFACTURER 

COLLECTOR 

COLLECTOR 

CBC (Europe) GmbH 

toner@cbc-europe.com 

Tel: +49 211 530670 

www.cbc-europe.com 

FBO Organisation, S.L. 

fbo@fbo-org.com 

Tel: +34 936724863 

www.fbo-org.com 

LVL 

hb.sales@lvlcartridge.com 

Tel: +33 251 70 14 58 

www.lvl.fr 

REMANUFACTURER 

RESELLER 


wta Carsten Weser GmbH 

info@wta-suhl.de 

Tel: +49 3681 4529710 

www.wta-suhl.de 

Copyclic 

info@copyclic.com 

Tel: +33 01 60 78 78 78 

www.copyclic.com 

Integral GmbH 

info@integral-international.de 

TEL: + 49 (0) 28 33 60 60 

www.integral-international.de 

MARKET INTELLIGENCE 

CARTRIDGE CLEANING SYSTEMS 

SUPPLIER 

LightWords Imaging 

admin@lightwords.co.uk 

Tel: +44 1270 878850 

www.lightwordsimaging.com 

Futor Cleaning System AG 

info@futorag.ch 

+41 716800549 

www.futorag.com 

TOKO Srl 

toko@toko.ro 

Tel: +40212327270 

www.toko.ro 

SUPPLIER 

BROKER AND RECYCLER 


Freckles Ltd 

info@freckles.bg 

Tel: +359 2 955 5560 

www.freckles.bg 

The Greener Side 

info@greener-side.co.uk 

Tel: +44 1427 700 700 

www.greener-side.co.uk 

Primedia Products 

tmiller@primediamicr.com 

Tel: +1 304-277-2050 

www.primediamicr.com 


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ETIRA membership benefits include: 

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PR-work to tell the world about remanufactured 

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Join our business Code of Conduct, and sell 

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ETIRA: WORKING FOR ALL REMANUFACTURERS AND PARTNERS 


January 2021 45

NEXT ISSUE 

February 2021 

Issue 339 

Three R’s to 

Sustainability: 

Changing our 

Way of Life 

ISSN 2045 - 2047 (PRINT) JANUARY 2021 EDITION 338 PUBLISHED 21 DECEMBER 2020 

The Recycler 

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January 2021 47

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