Papers & Ink

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Old Foggy

You may want to look into the following from today's NY Times

Gus

Pantone, the company whose color-matching system is the standard in
industries from printing to design, is releasing a line of premium printer
paper and inkjet cartridges that it says will be less expensive than
replacements supplied by the printer makers.
The Pantone product line, called ColorVantage, will be available initially
for wide-format Epson printers like the 1270 and 1280, which are often used
for large photos and banners. Pantone claims that when its papers and
premium ink are used in tandem, they allow a larger range of color than is
possible with standard materials. The company is also distributing free
software intended to ensure that a final print accurately duplicates the
colors seen on the computer screen, through the use of profiles that match
specific monitor and printer models.

The company said the products will cost 10 to 15 percent less than
replacement inks and papers from the original manufacturer. The product line
is sold online by Staples (www.staples.com) and through mail-order catalogs.
The company said it planned to expand the line to smaller-format printers
 
I wonder how they get around the "chip" issue?
Click to expand...
From Pantone's inkjet site:
"For the Epson printers designed to use pigmented inks (the EPSON
Stylus Pro 5500, 7500 and 9500) all the ColorVantage inks are 100%
pigments. The ColorVantage inks for the Epson printers that are
designed for a dye-based ink set (EPSON Stylus Photo, 1270, 1280 and
the EPSON Stylus Pro 5000, 7000 and 9000) are 100% pigmented inks with
the exception of the black ink that is a pigment/dye hybrid."

So these are actually pigment-based inks intended to replace Epson's
dye-based types for the 1270, 1280 etc. They also claim that "Phase
II" of their marketing will include replacement carts for the 2200, a
pigment-based inkjet. They claim that no printer manufacturer can
prohibit others from providing replacement inks, so maybe there's been
some kind of agreement vis-a-vis the chip issue.
 
They also claim that "Phase
II" of their marketing will include replacement carts for the 2200, a
pigment-based inkjet. They claim that no printer manufacturer can
prohibit others from providing replacement inks, so maybe there's been
some kind of agreement vis-a-vis the chip issue.
Click to expand...

I hear some lawyers rubbing their hands together.
 
The courts (or that Library thingy, I can never keep this straight) just
ruled that Printer Manufacturers cannot invoke the DMCA to prevent others
from designing/selling compatible cartridges.

This just came down about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

-Larry
 
Larry said:
The courts (or that Library thingy, I can never keep this straight) just
ruled that Printer Manufacturers cannot invoke the DMCA to prevent others
from designing/selling compatible cartridges.
Click to expand...

The DMCA is one thing but what about ordinary patents or copyright in other
countries? Isn't that the real reason they store info on cart usage in the
cart itself? It's not to make it easier for S/W to work out when the cart is
empty, it's to give the cart a patent protected feature.
 
I don't think anyone would disagree with you, even though the manufacturers
always say it's for OUR own good to prevent us from running out of ink and
burning out our Print Heads.

In other words, they think WE are a stupid bunch of Print Heads that will
just be good little consumers, believe everything we are told, and continue
paying for cartridges overpriced by 80%.

But I also think there are laws that protect consumers from being forced
into single-source supplies.

I may be a bonehead on this, but doesn't the Moss-Magnussen Warranty Act
(well, something like that :)) fit into this somewhere ?

-Larry
 
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