Court rules against Lexmark in printer case (claimed DMCA on ink)

[Renew Deal]

Court denies Lexmark's request to prevent companies from making low-cost, refurbished cartridges for its printers

By James Niccolai, IDG News Service
February 22, 2005

Lexmark International (Profile, Products, Articles) has suffered a setback in its bid to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to prevent other companies from making low-cost, refurbished toner cartridges for its printers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled against Lexmark's request that it reconsider an earlier decision that favored Lexmark's opponent in the case, Static Control Components (SCC), a maker of components used by third parties to make refurbished cartridges.

The earlier decision allowed SCC, in Sanford, North Carolina, to continue selling its chips for Lexmark laser printers at least until the case came to trial, expected later this year. Lexmark had asked the appeals court for a hearing to reconsider that decision, but the appeals court turned down its request on Feb. 15, SCC announced Monday.

The case has been closely watched in the industry, where printer manufacturers make much of their profit through sales of their own cartridges. Refurbished cartridges typically sell for about 30 percent less than those from the major printer vendors.
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http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/02/22/HNlexmarkcase_1.html?source=NLC-TB2005-02-22

[applegrove]

1. I heard that the printer companies sell their printers at a discount

in hopes of getting the long term cartridge business. A lexmark cartridge costs me $40 dollars at the store. $15 at the mall ink people's kiosk and I recycle the electronics & plastic.

Competition once again - but only if it doesn't hurt the big corporations.

Typical 'regulations' to help business try and create a monopoly. Exactly what the 19th Century was about for conservatives (protecting priviledge).

[Angry Girl]

2. What? A judge who didn't side against the consumer?

How can this be?

Good! Fargin' Lexmark iceholes. I'm glad.

I own a Lexmark and have had to resort to refilling my own cartridges. No way in hell I was going to pay almost $40 for a piece of plastic, some cheap circuitry and a few milliliters of ink!

If you refill your own cartridges (an environmentally good thing as well as a savings for you), and the ink has dried and is clogging the printing head (even if it's an old cartridge), go pick up some of this terrific cleaning fluid I got from http://www.printheadcleaningkit.com. It's way cheap and works wonders! The fellow is very nice and will answer any questions too.

If it's an old cartridge, pour just a little bit of the cleaning solution into a large bottle cap or something like that and lay the printing head so it's soaking in the stuff. Leave overnight. That should be all you need to unclog your now usable cartridge!

Now go buy some ink to fill your cartridge with (for $10 you should be able to buy several refills worth of ink)!