You got a printer? Sure, you do. Inkjet? LBP? Or ancient IBM golfball?

In the case of inkjet printer, I can't remember exactly who, but a certain American company established a very troublesome business model. Sell a printer at an irresistible price (sometimes, even in the red!), then recover the loss handsomely from its ink cartridges with inflated price. In some cases, ink cartridge costs more than its printer! Oh yes, a somewhat similar trick has been going on for quite a long time in the game machine market.

Sure, yours truly, too, had walked into a trap once. A Lexmark inkjet printer. When the colorful juice in the original ink cartridge dried up, a rude shock hit my purse.

I chose the third-party ink refill way. After tricolor-soiled shirtfront and trousers, colorfuly tainted fingertips and 2 hours of struggle, the refilled cartridge was ready. It worked actually. At least, for a few minutes. Then the red ink started leaking. Soon, everything turned red.

Since then, my Lexmark printer sits somewhere in the junk room. When I need a hard copy urgently (believe me, it's not very often), I usually run to my local Kinko shop. I figured it would be much more economical this way than operating my ink-guzzling printer full-time.

In this sad context, a very unintelligibly named Japanese law institution, Intellectual Property High Court, dismissed the mighty Epson's appeal on May 30 for the second time. Epson has been battling with an Osaka ink-cartridge recycling company, Ecorica Inc. (not Ink!) since the latter started recycling Epson cartridges commercially.

Poor Epson. Its patent infringement action did not go very well. It had lost the first trial at Tokyo District Court already in October last year. Obviously, it will lose the final appeal to the higher courts again, considering the mood and trend of the present legal environment.

Recycle Assist's recycled cartridge for Canon: Left. Canon original cartridge: Right.

All right, I would buy Seiko-Epson's inkjet printer next time, so I thought. With Epson printer, I could print junk hard copies till I drop dead, using cheap recycled ink cartridges. No need to pay a king's ransom for the silly brand-name ink!

But, wait a minute. The same Unintellectual Property High Court had given a conflicting and confusing decision on a similar lawsuit appealed by the mighty Canon some time in January 2006. Patent of Canon ink cartridge was fully acknowledged. Recycled Canon cartridge was decided to have infringed on its patent. Canon's gadfly was another recycling outfit in Tokyo, Recycle Assist Co., which is a kind of big player on recycling printer ink ribbons, toner and cartridges in Japan.

Ecorica recycled cartridge for Epson inkjet. Small print says this product is not an Epson original component. Who cares?

The first patent infringement trial at Tokyo District Court was a disaster for Canon. Canon's patent had not been recognized, and the case was summarily dismissed. Well, it was the end of 2004.

Here, we have a headache. The same recycled (and cheap) inkjet cartridges. One for Epson printer. The other for Canon. The former, you can buy it legally. The latter, your head will be chopped off if you buy it. This is madness. Pure madness.

Now, you understand the extent of Japanese legal chaos. We live in this crazy land and flourish. At least, your Mobile Ojisan sincerely loves this utmost schizophrenia.

 

cheewee
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kaisei1
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